Whatever it Takes COMPLETE
by FullMoonDreams
Summary: Sequel to Hogwarts: All Sales Final. Continuing the story of Rowena, Salazar and the rest of the founders. A little less humour and a lot more drama this time. DH spoilers and deaths in later chapters. RRSS. Please R
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: Don't own any the characters, places etc. JK Rowling retains the rights etc etc. I'm borrowing them for a while for the amusement of myself and my readers._

_Note:  Rated it M to be on the safe side though it is probably nearer to T. Just in case anyone is wondering._

_This story is the sequel to Hogwarts: All Sales Final so it is recommended you read that one first. This one has some humour but is more drama/romance. _

_And yes I know they still sound a bit too modern - call it quirks of them being witches and wizards - it's not like they'd have been speaking English at all in that era and I'm certainly not going to be learning another language to make it compliant with medieval times. ;-)_

_Enjoy!_

_**Whatever it Takes**_

_A little more than three and a half years later_

**Chapter 1**

"Rowena, hurry up and come out of there! We'll be late for Godric's meeting!" Salazar hammered on the door to the women's privy where the sound of groaning and vomiting came from within.

"I feel awful," Rowena muttered when she finally appeared. "I…I…oh no!"

Salazar rolled his eyes as Rowena dashed back inside once more.

"Well what do you expect?" Salazar scolded her as he followed her inside. "You should know better than to mix butterbeer and nettle wine and from all accounts you had way too much of both of them last night."

"The barman said that if you started and ended with a firewhiskey it prevented hangovers," Rowena muttered as she clutched her head.

"And you actually believed that?" Salazar roared with laughter.

"Don't laugh so loud," Rowena whispered as she clutched her head again. "Can't you go brew me up a hangover cure?"

"Not until after Godric's meeting."

"I'll promise never to drink again if you go make one now," Rowena said.

"Anyone with any sense would swear not to drink again anyway."

"Well we had to make sure that trade was good for his first day," Rowena said. "Helga and I wanted to show support."

"Is that what you call it?" Salazar replied with another laugh. "Just because Hogsmeade has expanded enough over the last few years to warrant the building of a tavern, it doesn't mean you and Helga have to try to drink the place dry in a single night."

"You're just annoyed because you and Godric couldn't join us." Rowena stood up slowly and took a tentative step towards the door. Her stomach seemed to be stable for the moment so she ventured back out into the corridor.

"Godric didn't want to," Salazar pointed out as they headed towards the common room. "He wanted to have another look at that ruddy snake of his. Now it's too big to let loose with students around he can only see it in the holidays and has been bothering me nearly every day about it."

"Hasn't he decided on a name for it yet?" Rowena asked. "It seems a little silly to keep calling it 'that ruddy snake', especially after all this time."

"Oh, he's thought up plenty of names for it," Salazar replied. "Each more ridiculously inappropriate than the last. He started off with names like Rover, Bingo and Lassie and even suggested we could teach it some tricks. When I finally convinced him that was out of the question he suggested calling it after some prominent wizards of the age like Merlin and Malfoy. Then it turned out to be a female so he had to re-think again. He started off with Betsy-May, then Mary-Sue and Tiffany-Jo and eventually I just left him to it. He usually refers to it as Ickle Snookums these days, which is frankly more than a little bizarre since it's already more than ten feet long."

"Snookums?" Rowena asked with a snicker. "Is that even a word?"

"According to Godric it is."

"Well as long as I don't have to go look after Ickle Snookums he can call it what he likes. You're sure it can't get out of there?"

"The only way to get into the chamber now is through the entrance in the girls' privy chamber. I told you, I've sealed off the other entrance permanently. Only someone who can speak parseltongue can open the chamber and I'm the only one round here who can do that. I don't let Godric in the room when I open the chamber so he doesn't know the password even if he has an ear for mimicry. He can study the thing in the privy chamber and I promise you there's no way that snake is ever seeing the light of day again."

"I hope not." Rowena shivered slightly at the thought of the monster that was lurking below the school. It wasn't that she didn't trust Salazar but she did worry that someone, some day after they'd both gone, might figure out a way into the chamber anyway.

"Don't worry about it," Salazar said as they approached the common room. "Just try to concentrate on the meeting…for once."

* * *

"You've done _what_?" Rowena shouted, clutching her head a moment later and regretting, if not her words, then at least the volume of them.

"She's a perfectly acceptable candidate for the post," said Godric firmly. "In fact she's the only candidate for the post."

"But _I_ teach Ancient Runes. I've been managing to teach both that and Transfiguration without any problems so far."

"The only way you're managing it is by using that time-turner," Godric pointed out. "It's only a matter of time before you run into yourself somewhere and cause who knows what damage."

"But I _know_ that I'm using a time-turner so if I run into myself anywhere in the school I'll just know that it's the other me and nothing dark or strange."

"That's not the point. You were also looking rather tired at the end of last term. So I've been scouting around for someone to take over the Ancient Runes post and Cordelia Disdel has excellent qualifications. She's been teaching the subject to children in private residences for a number of years."

"She's a tart!" Rowena snapped. "You can't hire her! I won't let you!"

"I already have," Godric replied. "She'll be arriving next week with the rest of the staff for the start of the new school year."

"You can't hire someone without clearing it with the rest of us," Rowena pointed out. "You're not the only one in charge here!"

"Helga hired most of the staff herself when we first opened," Godric argued.

"But we agreed that we trusted Helga with the job," Rowena countered.

"And you don't trust me?" Godric glared around the table.

Rowena's eyes with flashing with fury, Salazar looked distinctly uncomfortable and even Helga looked nervous.

"Fine!" Godric snapped. "_You_ find another suitably qualified Professor of Ancient Runes before the start of term. Produce one yourself or Cordelia joins the staff…as planned."

"I will!" Rowena declared. She gave Godric one final scathing look before storming out of the room. She slammed the door behind her, and regretted it instantly when her aching head began to pound once more.

* * *

"I'm sending the owls to the staff, reminding them of the start of term in three days time," Godric said to Rowena who was rapidly reading through the half dozen owls she'd received from prospective Professors of Ancient Runes. "Have you found anyone for the post yet?"

Rowena sighed as she read the last of the letters, none of the wizards and witches she'd approached were able to take up the post. The most suitable candidates all had prior commitments that couldn't be altered at such short notice. The ones who were willing to take up the post were unfortunately less qualified than Cordelia.

"Well?" Godric asked again.

"No," Rowena admitted.

"Then I'll send Cordelia her letter and we'll expect her in two days time with the rest of the staff."

Rowena didn't bother to reply, still furious with herself for not managing to secure someone else for the position.

"I'm sure you'll get along fine with her once she's settled in," Godric said.

Rowena ignored him. She wasn't so sure and considering her previous half dozen meetings with the woman she suspected that living in such close quarters with her would probably result in nothing less than bloodshed.

* * *

"New teachers sit at the end of the table," Rowena said with a sweet smile that didn't reach her eyes. Cordelia looked like she might argue but instead meekly sat down in the seat that Rowena indicated. The seat that they both knew was furthest away from Salazar.

The start of term feast was about to begin and the students were filing into the room. In a few minutes the first years would be arriving, having taken the traditional route via the lake from Hogsmeade.

This was the first year that the founders had decided to try their new method of sorting the students into their houses. Rather than arguing through every application as to who should be in which house Godric had come up with a different idea.

"We'll give it some brains and let it sort for us," Godric had announced as he'd pointed to his hat. "It can even continue after we're no longer here."

"Morbid much?" Helga asked as she poked at the hat. "Don't you have a nicer hat to use? This one has a tear in the brim."

"That was where that sea serpent ripped it last year," Godric said. "I thought I'd found the only sea serpent that would attack a human…maybe even a brand new species…turns out it was just trying to get at my lunch that I'd stored in my hat for later."

"I really don't see how this is going to work," Salazar said after Godric had explained the spell and the idea for the second time. "It's a hat, a hat can't talk. Even if it could decide which house to place the students in, how's it going to tell us?"

"I guess we'll find out at the start of term feast," Godric said with a shrug. "Should be interesting."

"It'll probably be a disaster," said Helga in a pessimistic tone. "The hat won't know how to communicate with us and we'll waste most of the night trying to sort out the students ourselves anyway."

The problem of communication between the hat and the founders was soon resolved. The tear in the brim that for some reason hadn't been fixed before they worked the spell became the hat's mouth and it spoke as well as they did. Of course, getting it to shut up was a whole different matter.

Rowena sat in her seat between Salazar and Godric and watched as Helga carried the chatting hat and the list of new students towards the front of the room. She crossed her fingers under the table as the first of the students sat down on the stool in front of the rest of the school.

Rowena leaned forward as she strained to hear something from the Hat but no sounds came forth.

"I told you this wouldn't work," Salazar whispered across to Godric. "It doesn't-"

"Gryffindor!" the Hat suddenly shouted out causing several people to jump in their seats.

Godric applauded loudly, and nudged Rowena to do the same. The rest of the room burst into applause too and the student went to sit at the table Helga pointed him to.

The second student took her place on the stool and everyone held their breath once more. The Hat decided quickly this time and shouted out "Gryffindor!" again.

When the third student was also sorted into Gryffindor, Rowena turned to Godric and suggested that something might have gone wrong.

"Give it time," Godric said. "We all put something of ourselves in the Hat, it will no doubt find other students with the qualities you search for in your students."

"Hopefully this year," Rowena whispered back.

The fourth student to be sorted revealed that there was nothing wrong with the Hat and after a great deal of deliberation she was sorted into Hufflepuff. Helga beamed and patted her cheerfully on the shoulder as she directed her to the table where the rest of the Hufflepuff students sat.

Finally all the students were sorted and, Rowena was pleased to see, there were a fair number of students in her own house as well.

"A pretty even four way split," Salazar commented.

Godric stood up to make his annual start of term speech. They had unanimously decided to let him have that honour every year…no one else wanted to waste part of the summer holidays deciding what to say. Helga meanwhile carried the Sorting Hat towards the antechamber.

Rowena thought she heard it muttering on the way.

"That's all I get to do? I've got brains I have, and talent. You could at least let me sing a song or something before you shove me back here."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Where's Sal?"

Rowena's eyes narrowed dangerously as she looked up at the sound of the voice she'd grown to truly despise over the last few months.

"_Salazar_, as I'm sure you know, is teaching fifth year Potions right now," she informed Cordelia with an icy glare.

"Oh yes, of course he is," Cordelia replied with a simpering laugh. "I completely forgot."

"Sure you did," Rowena muttered under her breath.

She'd quickly discovered that Cordelia had not only memorised Salazar's timetable, she had even managed to somehow persuade Godric to alter her own classes around so that more than half of her free periods coincided with Salazar's. Rowena had tried to persuade Godric to change them back to their initial slots, using the moving staircases as the primary reason for her insistence, but he was not to be persuaded.

Cordelia also insisted on calling Salazar Sal, much to Rowena's annoyance. She'd pointed out to her that only she and the other founders ever called him Sal, and Godric and Helga only used the name when they were teasing him, but Cordelia had merely ignored her advice and continued to call him Sal even more frequently.

"I have a letter from his father," Cordelia said with a smile as she sank gracefully onto the couch.

"You shouldn't be reading Salazar's personal correspondence," Rowena said as she held out her hand for the letter. Cordelia moved it out of her reach before she could touch the parchment.

"It's not Salazar's letter, it's mine. I just thought he might like to know all the news from home."

"He received a letter from his mother a couple of days ago," Rowena informed Cordelia loftily. "I'm sure he's already been appraised of anything important."

"Well I think I'll just pop down to the dungeons and see if he can spare a few moments," Cordelia said. "His father has written pages and pages and I don't think I'll be able to cover all the important points over lunch."

"_I'll_ take it to him," Rowena insisted as she snatched the letter from Cordelia's hand. She silently dared her to take it back from her. Cordelia looked for a moment like she might wrestle Rowena to the floor for the letter but her venomous look cleared and she was soon back to her usual falsely charming self.

"I think I'd rather see him _personally_," Cordelia said with another small laugh. "We just don't seem to have any time alone together."

"Good," Rowena snapped as she marched out of the room. Of course Cordelia hadn't managed to find too much time alone with Salazar, Rowena had done her utmost to make sure of that. Not that it had taken a great deal of effort since Salazar was avoiding Cordelia as determinedly as she was tracking him down.

Rowena arrived at the Potions lab and poked her head round the door. Smoke billowed out into the corridor and Rowena used the letter to try to fan away the more noxious of the fumes.

She stumbled her way through the smoke, her eyes watering more and more with each step she took. She reached the first desk and promptly stubbed her toe on one of the legs.

"Bugger!" she swore.

"Professor Ravenclaw!" chided the student whose desk she had walked into

"Rowena?" Salazar's voice drifted towards her from the far side of the classroom. She tried to aim herself in that general direction but the fumes were becoming worse and she was starting to feel dizzy.

She'd just stumbled over a pile of books that one of the students had left on the floor when she finally saw Salazar heading towards her.

"How can you work in this?" she asked as she tried to waft the smoke away from her.

"You get used to it," Salazar replied with a shrug. "Plus I have this to help me out a little." He pulled a small clear vial on a chain from out of his robes and Rowena immediately recognised the amortentia inside it.

"But the smoke," she said between coughs.

"Well it's not usually quite this bad," Salazar admitted. "The potion we're making today is just a particularly smoky one, and the class is one of the largest we've ever had. Anyway, why are you down here? Is something wrong?"

"You mean besides the usual?" Rowena asked.

"What's she done now?" Salazar asked tiredly as he steered her away from the ears of the far too attentive students.

"She's got a letter from your father." She waved the letter in question for emphasis.

"Good," Salazar muttered. "If he's writing to her it leaves him less time to be bothering me. But why do you have it?"

"I took it off her to stop her coming down here."

"Of course you did." Salazar sighed and took the letter from her outstretched hand. "The usual venomous rubbish I imagine."

Rowena waited patiently as Salazar skimmed through the letter.

"Seems to think Cordelia is going to be his daughter-in-law by this time next year," Salazar commented with a snort.

"Is there anything in the letter I'm going to want to hear?" Rowena asked.

"It's from my father, what do _you_ think?"

"Is there anything in it I should be worried about?"

"Other than the possibility of senility running in the family?" Salazar asked with a grin.

Finally he reached the end of the letter and passed it back to Rowena with a grimace. "I imagine you'll want to take this back to Cordelia?"

"Not really."

"You'd prefer _me_ to deliver it to her?"

"I'll take it back to her right away."

Salazar grinned at the easy manipulation of Rowena who was at her most predictable when she was jealous. Of course she was also at her most amusing at these times as well.

He watched her disappear back within the smoky fumes from the students' cauldrons and turned to the nearest table to see how the students there were progressing with their potion.

He dimly heard the sound of a thud from somewhere out of sight but it wasn't until several students started to call for him that he realised it wasn't the usual clumsiness of a student dropping books or a cauldron that had made the noise.

He hurried towards the sound of the voices and saw several students crowded around Rowena who was out cold on the floor.

"What happened?" he asked as he checked whether she was still breathing. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realised that she'd only fainted.

"I don't know," the boy at the nearest desk replied. "She was waving some parchment at the smoke as she walked past and then suddenly she was on the floor."

"I guess the fumes were a little much for her," Salazar said as he gathered her into his arms. "Class is nearly over anyway. Place your potions on my desk for marking and then hurry to lunch. I'll take Professor Ravenclaw to the hospital wing."

* * *

Madam Gudgeon was looking rather harassed when Salazar arrived at the hospital wing. Apparently a major collision on the Quidditch pitch had resulted in the admission of four students with various cuts and bruises and two more with broken bones.

Salazar placed the still unconscious Rowena carefully onto one of the few remaining spare beds as he waited for the healer's attention.

"I think she's just fainted," Salazar said as Madam Gudgeon hurried past. "I'll wait with her until you're free. You carry on sorting out that lot."

Madam Gudgeon nodded as she set about mending the broken bones. She'd certainly improved in her healing in the last few years, probably through the many hours of practice that the students provided her with. Her misdiagnoses were getting fewer and fewer and although she still got a little shaky around serious injuries that involved blood she hadn't fainted at the sight of them in almost a year.

Rowena came round well before Madam Gudgeon was free and she looked around in surprise at her surroundings.

"How did I get here?" she asked as she rubbed her head.

"You fainted," Salazar replied. "Back in the Potions classroom. Don't you remember?"

Rowena frowned in concentration. "I remember the fumes and the smoke were really bad in there and…"

"And you fainted."

"What time is it?" Rowena asked. "I'm supposed to be teaching Transfiguration right after lunch."

"It's still the lunch hour. You've not been out of it for that long."

"Oh good. Well now I'm all better let's head downstairs for something to eat."

"Not until Iris has looked you over," Salazar insisted as he put out an arm to prevent her from rising from the bed.

"But I feel fine," Rowena said. "It was just those fumes and the smoke…it was just a bit much."

"You're still going to be checked over so you might as well stop whining about it. I'll put you under a full body bind if I have to."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"You know very well that I would."

Rowena folded her arms and sat back with a sulky expression on her face to wait for Madam Gudgeon to tell her she was free to go. She sincerely hoped that she wouldn't be missing lunch entirely. It was all right for Salazar, he had a free period right after lunch – along with Cordelia – but she had a class to teach.

* * *

Salazar leaned back against the tree near the edge of the lake. The water was shimmering in the moonlight and it was unseasonably warm for the time of year.

Rowena was pacing back and forth along the edge of the lake. She stopped every few minutes to sigh and mutter under her breath.

"How did this happen?" she asked for the tenth time.

"Would you like me to draw you a diagram?" Salazar asked with a smirk.

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Rowena snapped. "Why now? After all this time?"

"Are you really that upset about it?" Salazar asked quietly. "You're not even the tiniest bit happy?"

Rowena turned round and sank onto the grass next to him. "It's just that I thought that…" Her voice trailed off, she was reluctant to put her thoughts into words but knew that she didn't really need to. Salazar could read her far too well.

"Are you going to write and tell your parents?" Salazar asked instead of following up on her unspoken words.

"Heavens no!" Rowena exclaimed. "They can find out through the usual channels of gossip, the same way I found out that Grandma Ravenclaw had passed away. They'll just add it to their long list of things I've done to disgrace the good name of the family. Are you going to tell your parents?"

"I'll write to my mother and tell her. She can tell my father. He'll no doubt react in his usual predictable way."

"What do you think you're mother's going to say?" Rowena asked. Out of all the Slytherin relatives she'd met over the years the only one who would give her the time of day was Salazar's mother, Katelyn Slytherin. Sometimes she actually thought the older woman approved of her, maybe even liked her. Salazar was sure she did which went a long way to convincing her as well.

"She'll be pleased," Salazar assured her with a smile. Rowena looked at him doubtfully. "Why wouldn't she be?" he added.

"I don't know," Rowena replied. "I doubt anyone else will be. Godric will probably be furious."

"It's none of Godric's business," Salazar snorted.

"He'll say it'll give the school a bad reputation…just you watch. He'll have something to say about it!"

"Godric can rant and fume as much as he likes," Salazar said. "He'll get over it. And Helga won't mind."

"I guess…"

"Stop worrying so much about what everyone else is going to think or say," Salazar ordered. "What about you? Are _you_ happy?"

"I don't know," Rowena admitted truthfully. "I think I'm still in shock."

"Well _I'm_ pleased," Salazar assured her. "And I don't care about anyone else's opinion except yours."

"I'm sure we'll find out everyone else's opinion pretty soon. They'll say a lot and think even more," Rowena muttered.

"Well if anyone says anything to upset you, just tell me and I'll go silence them with a nice effective curse or two."

Rowena smiled. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad. "I don't mind you writing to your mother, but can we not tell anyone else just yet though?" she asked. "Just for a few days?"

"I've already asked Iris to keep quiet," Salazar confirmed.

Rowena breathed a sigh of relief.

"They'll find out eventually though," Salazar pointed out.

"I know," Rowena said as she looked out towards the lake. "I just need time to get used to the idea before I have to deal with all the sneering and gossip."

* * *

Two mornings later the secret came out in a way neither of them had anticipated or imagined.

"That's a howler," Rowena said as the Slytherin family owl landed on the table in front of Salazar.

"My father's handwriting," Salazar said as he glared at the envelope. "I'll go open it somewhere out of the way," he whispered.

"Oh is that from your father?" Cordelia asked with a bright smile as she approached the breakfast table. "What a pretty colour of parchment though wouldn't green be more appropriate?"

"No!" Rowena shouted as Cordelia reached for the howler and casually opened it.

"SALAZAR SLYTHERIN, YOU FOOLISH BOY!" the howler echoed round the room and the eyes of all the staff and students turned to the high table. "HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID AS TO GET THAT SILLY LITTLE HUSSY KNOCKED UP! DON'T THINK I'M GOING TO CHANGE MY MIND ABOUT YOU MARRYING HER EITHER. YOU'LL MARRY THAT PUSHY LITTLE STRUMPET OVER MY DEAD BODY! YOUR MOTHER'S DISTRAUGHT AT THE NEWS. IT'D SERVE YOU RIGHT IF I DISINHERITED YOU RIGHT NOW! AND DON'T IMAGINE FOR ONE MOMENT I'M GOING TO BE WRITING SOME RAVENCLAW SPAWN INTO MY WILL EITHER!"

"Oops," Cordelia said with a nervous smile around the room. "I didn't realise it was one of _those_ letters. I've never received one myself."

Rowena was torn between throttling the woman standing on the other side of the table and running from the room. Thankfully she was saved from making the decision by Salazar who had the foresight to grab her arm and steer her into quiet of the antechamber.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Is it true?" Godric asked once all four founders were safely out of earshot of the rest of the school. Not that it made much difference, most of the school had been present in the hall and had heard the howler. No doubt any of the students unfortunate enough to have missed the drama would hear about it within an hour from those who had.

"Yes," Salazar replied. "Aren't you going to congratulate us?"

Godric looked startled at the question.

"I _told_ you," Rowena said to Salazar. "I _knew_ he'd be like this."

"Like _what_?" Godric said. "I only asked if it was true."

"But you're busy thinking about how its going to look in front of all the students and their parents," Rowena said. "Are you going to deny it?"

"Rowena, you're not being fair," Helga said quietly. "It's just a bit of a shock…for both of us. Finding out…especially like that."

"Well I didn't know the old goat was going to send a howler," Rowena pointed out. "Of all the ways I imagined breaking the news to everyone I can promise you that _this_ wasn't one of them."

"Rowena, calm down," Salazar advised. "It's not good for you to get so upset."

Salazar placed a steady hand on her sleeve and she drew in a deep calming breath.

"Clearly the parents of the students are going to find out within a few days," Salazar said. "I suggest we wait and see what the reactions are before making any hasty decisions."

"What do you mean by that?" Godric asked.

"I think you know _exactly_ what I mean," Salazar replied. "We'll eventually have to find someone else to take over Rowena's Transfiguration classes, hopefully we won't have to find someone to take over the position permanently and someone for Potions as well."

"You wouldn't leave!" Godric looked even more shocked at this. "You love teaching."

"I hope it won't come to that but…"

"But we could be driven out," Rowena finished the sentence for him.

"I agree we should wait and see what the parents say," Helga said. "Maybe they'll be understanding. I'm sure some of them have met old Slytherin."

"I think you'll find that those who've met him will probably agree with him," Salazar commented.

"Well, we've all got classes this morning," Helga pointed out. "And we're all late already."

"Go and check Cordelia isn't lurking outside the door," Salazar asked Helga. "I don't trust her at all."

"Me neither," Rowena said. "She knew ruddy well that letter was a howler. She'd have to have been living under a rock not to have seen one before. There have been three sent to students this year already."

"We'll keep her out of your way," Salazar promised.

"You better," Rowena replied. "Or Hogwarts may find itself being further scandalised with its first murder."

* * *

Rowena looked at the sixth year students who were patiently waiting outside the Transfiguration classroom. The whispers stopped as she approached and she felt herself flushing.

She steeled herself, pulled out her wand and waved it to unlock the door whilst precariously carrying books with her other hand.

"Let me carry those," one of the students said as he grabbed the tottering books from her grasp. "You shouldn't be carrying too much now."

"Um…well…I think I can still manage a few books," Rowena said as she smiled at the thoughtful boy.

"Let me get the door for you," another student said as the class started filing into the room.

"Where would you like me to put the books?" asked the first student.

Another one was already at her desk and pulling out the chair.

The kindness of the sixth years was so unexpectedly sweet that Rowena felt her eyes watering.

"Now you've done it," one of the girls scolded. "You've gone and upset her."

"No, no, it's all right," Rowena assured them. "You're all very kind, really."

"Is Professor Slytherin's father really stopping you getting married?" a hesitant voice asked as the class gathered around the desk where Rowena was tearfully sniffing.

"That's what the howler said," another student replied.

"Horrible git!" another voice piped up from the back.

"We all wondered why you weren't already married," one of the girls said as she passed Rowena a handkerchief.

"You did?" Rowena asked despite her better instincts.

"Of course we did."

"There's been a betting pool on when you'll name the day for as long as the school's been open. I bet on the July after we first opened and lost two sickles."

"Didn't Dorcas have a bet that one of their parents was stopping them?"

"I think she did."

"Wow, she's going to clean up today, isn't she?"

"Um…yes…well we really should get started with the lesson," Rowena said as the students began debating with each other as to exactly how much Dorcas had won with her bet.

"My father knows the Slytherins," one boy said. No one seemed to be taking their seats. "When I tell him about this he'll cross him off his guest list for New Year."

"My mum always said he was a rotten old snake."

"I bet Professor Slytherin will marry you anyway."

"He _has_ to marry you now."

"It's a little more complicated than you think," Rowena said. "And we really should start the lesson."

Finally the students took their seats and the class began with Rowena feeling far better than she had since the howler had been opened.

* * *

"I don't want to see her," Rowena said. "Your father said she was distraught."

"Well clearly she's not so distraught she can't leave the house since she's apparently upstairs in the Entrance Hall," Salazar pointed out. He nodded to the house elf who had come to deliver news that his mother had arrived and wished to speak to them.

Rowena ignored him and carried on rummaging around in the kitchen cupboard. She pulled out a knife that Salazar quickly pulled from her hand.

"I only wanted it to cut up my apple," Rowena said as she snatched it back. "Though if Cordelia comes in here I'm making no promises."

"Don't you want to know what she has to say for herself?" Salazar asked. "Maybe she's come around to the idea?"

"Well go and find out, and if she has you can let me know."

"Oh no you don't," Salazar said as he steered her out the door. "You're coming with me if I have to carry you up the stairs."

* * *

"I thought you were going to leave me standing here all day," Katelyn said when Rowena and Salazar finally greeted her.

"Mother," Salazar said with a far more formal bow of greeting than Rowena had ever seen him give her.

"Is that the best you can do?" Katelyn asked as she strode across the hall and enveloped him in a hug. "How are you both? Rowena you look positively blooming!"

"So you've recovered from the news?" Salazar asked after they'd settled down in Rowena's private chambers where they were unlikely to be disturbed.

"Recovered?" Katelyn asked. "I'm delighted for you both."

"You are?" Rowena asked sceptically.

"Of course. I can't say my husband shares my sentiments but I am quite looking forward to being a grandmother. I've already had two people tell me I look far too young for the role."

"Did you know that father had sent a howler?" Salazar asked.

"No," Katelyn replied. "That's a little extreme. I hope you had the sense to open it somewhere quiet."

"Unfortunately someone else opened it first," Salazar said as Rowena swore under her breath.

"Miss Disdel perchance?"

"Who else?" Rowena muttered. "In front of most of the school as well."

"Oh dear. She really is the most devious little – "

"Mother!"

"You're telling me Rowena hasn't said the same? Or worse?" Katelyn asked with a raised eyebrow that was so like the gesture her son used that Rowena couldn't help but smile.

"Well that's Rowena," Salazar replied. "I expect it from her."

"The howler said you were distraught at the news," Rowena said quietly.

"Nonsense!" Katelyn snorted with contempt. "I might have got a little upset when we argued again about the idea of you two marrying, but distraught at the news? I'm shocked either of you would believe it. I thought you both had a lot more sense than that."

Rowena and Salazar looked sheepishly at each other whilst Katelyn shook her head at their folly.

"So have you set a date yet?" Katelyn asked.

"A date?" Rowena repeated, feeling that she had somehow missed something.

"For the wedding," Katelyn clarified. "Surely you've at least discussed it?"

"Not exactly," Rowena admitted. "I mean, we know it's not possible."

"Not possible? Whatever gave you that idea?"

"Well…" Rowena looked at Salazar for help. They both knew why they had never defied Salazar's father and married in spite of his threats, but in all that time they'd never actually explained to Katelyn why they had made the decisions they had.

"Father said he'd cut me off entirely if we married," Salazar said.

"Piffle," Katelyn replied with another unladylike snort. "The success of Hogwarts has you set for life and even if it didn't I'd make sure you never starved."

"It's not about the money," Salazar explained. "He said he'd banish me from the estate and forbid me to contact any member of the family again…including you."

"Did he indeed?" Katelyn asked with a thoughtful expression on her face. "So what you're saying is that the only reason you've not made an honest woman of Rowena is because of me?"

"Um…" Salazar squirmed in his seat under his mother's inquisitive gaze.

"Well really!"

"But he said…"

"Your father says a lot of ridiculous things and makes a lot of threats but if he thinks for one moment he could stop me from being a part of my son's life he's very much mistaken."

"But he – "

"But nothing," Katelyn snapped. "Now leaving the wedding until the summer might be cutting it a little fine. I imagine you're due around that time?"

Rowena nodded mutely as hope started to blossom within her, as she'd never dared to let it before.

"Easter would be best I think," Katelyn continued. "Maybe you could have the ceremony out by the lake here. It's a lovely setting."

"Mother, before you get carried away…" Salazar interrupted.

"Well someone has to if you two aren't going to. You child will be a pageboy at your own wedding if you don't start organising something soon."

"Easter does sound nice," Rowena admitted.

"I have a little gift for you as well Rowena." Katelyn dove into her bag and started rummaging around. "It can be an early wedding present and you can wear it on the day. It belonged to my mother and her mother before her. I know I put it in here somewhere. I never had a daughter to give it to so I'd like you to have it instead."

"Mother, before you send out all the invites and start baking the cake could you at least let me propose to the bride?"

"Certainly," Katelyn replied. "Go to it son. I _know_ I put it in here before I left this morning."

"Er…Rowena…"

"You're supposed to get down on one knee," Katelyn pointed out as she popped up from searching through the contents of her bag.

Salazar knelt down on the floor and started again. "Rowena, would you…"

"Yes, of course," Rowena squealed.

"You could have let him finish the question," Katelyn commented with a smile. "Ah, here it is! Well aren't you going to give her the ring?"

"Oh, of course," Salazar started rummaging around in his own pockets until he finally produced a small box.

"How long have you been carrying it around?" Rowena asked as he slipped the ring onto her finger.

"Since a couple of days before you met my father," Salazar replied with a shrug.

"He spent more than a month deciding on which one to get you," Katelyn said. "Then he was worried you wouldn't like it and fretted about whether it would fit or not."

"Mother, please!"

"Yes, well, here is your first wedding present." She reached over and passed Rowena a parcel wrapped neatly in a delicate cloth.

Rowena took it from her carefully and unwrapped it with equal care.

"It's beautiful," she gasped as she looked at the sparkling tiara.

"It's a diadem," Katelyn said. "My grandmother inscribed it and always said it possessed magical powers."

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Rowena read.

"What powers does it have?" Salazar asked.

"It's supposed to give the wearer wisdom," Katelyn replied.

"Does it?" Rowena asked as she twisted it around in her hands.

"I don't know really. I only ever wore it once, on my own wedding day."

"I think that answers that question," Salazar muttered with a snort. "Clearly it's a fake."

"Just you watch it," Katelyn teased. "I could still withdraw my blessing if I think you're not good enough for Rowena."

Rowena giggled as she wrapped up the diadem again. "It's beautiful, thank you."

"You're most welcome. Now what about your parents? Have you heard from them yet?"

Rowena looked at Salazar and bit on her bottom lip.

"Have you told them yet?" Katelyn asked. "Oh dear, you haven't have you? Well you really should write and tell them before they find out from someone else."

"They can find out from someone else for all I care," Rowena replied. "They've not spoken to me or written to me in nearly ten years."

"Well far be it from me to criticise your parents." Katelyn patted Rowena's hand encouragingly. "Don't you worry yourself about them, it's not good for you or the little one."

"That's what I keep telling her," Salazar commented.

"Well between the two of us I think we might manage to get through to her," Katelyn replied with a smile. "Now what flowers will be in bloom around Easter…?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Rowena tried unsuccessfully to tune out the increasingly irritating sniffles from the far corner of the staff common room. Cordelia was reading a letter and had become more and more tearful the longer Rowena ignored her. It wasn't that she was feeling particularly heartless towards the other woman – they had reached an understanding of sorts, whereby Cordelia kept out of Rowena's way as much as possible and Rowena didn't hex her into the middle of next week. But something told Rowena that right now the scheming minx was faking her tears.

The door to the common room opened and Cordelia let out a wail that startled Rowena into dropping her quill.

"It's _so_ awful," Cordelia sobbed as she threw herself at Salazar who looked positively alarmed as he tried to disentangle himself from her grasp.

Rowena reached for a wand and cast a spell that quickly threw Cordelia across the room.

"Er…thanks," Salazar said as he straightened his now dishevelled robes. "What was that all about."

"It's just awful," Cordelia wailed from across the room. "Witch hunts so close to us! They're practically on our doorstep."

"Well they won't reach us at Hogwarts," Salazar assured her. "We're protected by plenty of spells and charms."

"Really?" Cordelia asked, her crocodile tears vanishing instantly.

"Of course," Salazar replied. "Did you think that we'd leave the children open to attacks from the mobs?"

"No," Cordelia hurriedly assured him. "But what spells are guarding the school? I might know some extra ones that we could use."

"I'm sure that won't be necessary," Salazar replied.

"But what are they?"

"Well there are muggle repelling charms and you already know that no one can apparate in or out of the school and…"

Rowena turned back to her marking as Salazar explained to Cordelia the various protections the school had in place. She kept one eye and ear on the conversation however and her hand didn't move from her wand. A stringing hex or two would persuade Professor Disdel to keep her distance if she hadn't the sense to do so herself.

"Well the school certainly sounds quite well protected," Cordelia said with a false laugh. "I just hope the poor Dingle twins haven't heard the news about the attacks yet."

"What's it got to do with them?" Salazar asked. "It wasn't anyone they know was it?"

"Well according to the letter I received," Cordelia lowered her voice to a rather loud whisper, "several of their relatives were involved in the attack. Several of their _muggle_ relatives."

Rowena looked across at Salazar who was frowning thoughtfully. He didn't see the smile of satisfaction on Cordelia's face as he mulled over her words, but Rowena did.

* * *

Helga swore loudly as she looked around her herb garden; it was in a state of complete disarray.

The trio of Jarveys responsible for the damage swore back at her, clearly not bothered about what they had done.

It took her an hour of racing around the garden before she managed to secure them. Once they were finally contained she marched into the castle to find Godric.

"They're a menace," she said as she deposited the container on Godric's desk. "Why do you feel the students need to study them anyway? All the fourth years seem to be learning in your class this year is a new range of rude words and insults."

"Really Helga they're not that bad." Godric put a finger into the box and tickled one of the ferret-like creatures under its chin.

"Idiotic twerp!" the Jarvey called and stuck out its tongue.

"Well that's not so bad," Godric pointed out.

"You should have heard what they were saying outside. Can you at least try to keep them out of the herb and vegetable gardens. They dug up all my bouncing bulbs, most of the cabbages, and were just starting on the belladonna section."

"I didn't know you were growing belladonna," Godric commented with a frown. "Do you think that's wise with so many children working in your garden?"

"I've split the garden very carefully into sections with only the older students working with the more dangerous plants."

"Are you sure?" Godric asked. "Maybe I should come down and check…"

"There's no need for that," Helga stated, somewhat huffily. "Just keep your little pets out of the garden in future."

With that Helga turned on her heel and left the room. She immediately walked straight into Cordelia Disdel who, unless Helga was very much mistaken, had been listening outside the door.

"Would you like me to come help you sort out the garden?" Cordelia asked, confirming Helga's suspicions at once.

"That's quite all right," replied Helga coldly as she stalked past her.

"Really it's no trouble," Cordelia insisted as she hurried to keep up with Helga's brisk pace.

"Well they did do an awful lot of damage," Helga admitted. "It would save a lot of time if you could help. I'd ask Rowena but…"

"But she doesn't know one end of a spade from the other," Cordelia said with a laugh.

"What I was going to say was that she's suffering with morning sickness at the moment and I don't like to bother her." Helga glared coldly at Cordelia who didn't seem to notice the frosty response her ill-considered joke had received.

"Then don't. I'm sure we'll have the garden sorted in no time."

Helga shrugged and continued out into the grounds once more. Cordelia trailed close behind her.

An hour later and they were starting to make some headway into repairing all the damage.

"Oh darn." Cordelia sighed loudly.

"What is it?" Helga asked impatiently. Cordelia had done little more than provide a running commentary and hover around the edges of garden so far.

"I chipped another nail," Cordelia replied as she waved her finger in front of Helga's nose.

"Tragic," Helga muttered. "Don't feel you have to carry on helping in your wounded condition."

"Oh don't you worry yourself, I'm sure I'll manage to struggle on." Cordelia laughed again and Helga gritted her teeth.

They carried on working, relatively quietly with the occasional student stopping by to see what was happening on the chilly Sunday morning.

"I don't think Godric was very understanding about all this," Cordelia commented quietly as she gestured around the garden. "Those creatures of his have done an awful lot of damage."

"Haven't they just?" Helga muttered as she rubbed her aching back.

"He didn't seem to be taking your concerns seriously at all," Cordelia continued. "I thought he was quite rude, the way he spoke down to you like that and dismissed your concerns. When he offered to come down and check your security it _almost_ sounded like he didn't trust your judgement."

"Well he isn't down here checking it now, so I guess he must," Helga replied, wondering why she was stating the obvious.

"I bet he comes down here later to check anyway," Cordelia said. "When you're not around. He doesn't seem to value your opinions much at all. Didn't he totally ignore your ideas for the new healthier school menu last week as well?"

"Er…"

"It's all right," Cordelia said consolingly. "I liked the ideas myself and hope that they'll soon be on the menu. I must admit to not being that fond of pumpkin juice and would be absolutely delighted to try one of your alternatives."

"Well I have some inside if you'd like a little refreshment now before we carry on?"

"That would be lovely," Cordelia replied with a cheerful smile. "I feel positively famished after all this hard work."

Helga refrained from commenting about precisely how much work Cordelia had done and instead went inside to get some refreshments for them both.

She returned a few minutes later to find that Cordelia was no longer alone in the herb garden. She was now accompanied by Godric and Augustus, who were both carefully examining the fences.

"They're just checking how secure the fences are," Cordelia said with a sad smile and a shrug as she took her drink from Helga.

Helga glared across the garden at Godric and tried to resist the urge to throw her own drink over him.

* * *

"Peace and quiet, at last," Salazar said as he shut the door to the Come and Go room behind him.

"I've never heard them fighting like that before," Rowena commented as she sat down on the couch in the living room of their magically provided cottage. "Helga sounded really furious."

"I can't believe she hexed him like that," Salazar said as he joined her on the couch. "Remind me never to get on the wrong side of her."

"She's always had a bit of a temper," Rowena admitted. "But where on Earth has she got the idea that Godric doesn't value her opinions?"

"Or trust her to make sound judgements?" Salazar added.

"_Exactly_, she makes better judgements than the rest of us most of the time."

"She certainly judged that stinging hex very well," Salazar said with a grin.

"I don't think Godric appreciated it though."

"We'll give them a couple of hours and then go see if things have calmed down," Salazar suggested. "In the meantime I'm sure we can find more enjoyable topics to discuss...like names for the little one."

"I thought you'd want Salazar if it's a boy," Rowena replied. "To carry on the tradition."

"Maybe, or how about naming him after your father?"

"I don't think the poor child's done anything to deserve that," Rowena replied with a snort. "And it's doubtful my father will be pleased about it. He'll probably take it as another insult to the honour of the family."

"And it could be a girl," Salazar pointed out. "If it is are we going to name her Rowena?"

"No, it'll be too confusing. What about Katelyn?"

"I think she'd like that," Salazar replied. "Maybe as a middle name if not as a first though. What about Helena?"

"I don't know," Rowena replied. "What's wrong with plain old Helen?"

"Helena's prettier."

"But you know what will happen? Everyone will call her Helen anyway and forget her name has an A on the end and by the time she's fifteen she'll probably even start answering to Helen because it'll be too annoying to be constantly reminding people what her name is."

"Helena's still a prettier name."

"I'll think about it," Rowena conceded.

"Did your parents say if they were going to come to the wedding?" Salazar asked, somewhat hesitantly.

"Not a word," Rowena replied. "I didn't expect them to though so no real surprise there."

"It's just that I had a letter from Mother this morning and she said she was going to write to your mother about helping organise the wedding."

"Good luck to her with that one," Rowena muttered. "She's got about as much chance of that as getting my father to cough up a dowry."

"I think she was going to mention that too."

"What's your father said about this?" Rowena asked quietly. "I keep expecting another howler to come flying into the Great Hall one morning."

"I rather think that Mother hasn't told him. I think she's going to break the good news after it's too late for him to do anything about it."

"You mean after the ceremony?"

"Precisely. What he doesn't know, he can't interfere with."

"He'll be really mad."

"No doubt."

"Your mother will have to bear the brunt of his temper."

"I know." Salazar looked into the fireplace with a frown. "I hope she's right and that she can take care of herself better than I thought."

* * *

"Oh, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Cordelia stepped into the classroom anyway and Helga shot her a filthy look before storming out of the room.

Godric looked furious as he lowered his wand.

"Did you want something Cordelia?" he asked with a frown.

"Well I was just passing by when I heard the sounds of shouting and I thought perhaps it might have been some students fighting. I'm afraid I didn't realise that you were in here."

"That's quite all right," Godric replied as he took a seat at one of the desks and considered the wound on his arm.

"Helga doesn't seem very happy does she?" Cordelia asked as she sat down near him. "Oh let me see that…it looks rather nasty…would you like me to ask Salazar to brew you a nice potion to soothe it?"

"That won't be necessary," Godric replied. "It's only a scratch."

"It's no trouble. I'd brew one myself for you but I really am a bit of a dunce when it comes to potions. I can barely manage the basics." She gave a simpering laugh and Godric smiled understandingly. He'd never been too brilliant at making potions himself.

"I didn't know Helga had such a temper," Cordelia continued. "You were very brave to stand up to her like that. Very forceful I thought. Some men do let women walk all over them and give them whatever they want no matter the consequences. It takes a real man to stick to their convictions like that."

"Yes, well…"

"I do hope she won't be stirring up trouble for you. As the Headmaster of the school you have the hard job of keeping not only the students but also the professors in line."

"Well it's really more of a joint effort between the four of us," Godric pointed out uneasily.

"Well if there's _anything_ I can do to help ease the pressures of your office, you just let me know. I'll go see if I can find Salazar for that potion."

"Madam Gudgeon probably has something," Godric replied. "I'll just go see her later."

"Well if you insist," Cordelia said with another charming smile. "I'm really not sure where Salazar is right now anyway. He does seem to disappear rather a lot doesn't he?"

"He'll be around somewhere."

"But he should be _here_ showing you support in your time of need."

"Well, it's hardly a time of need," Godric pointed out.

"They all really do leave you to run the school on your own," Cordelia continued as though Godric hadn't spoken at all. "It's just not fair on you to have to take on all the burdens like that. Though if any of the four of you can, I think it is surely _you._"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Rowena spotted Cordelia at the far end of the corridor. She didn't seem to have seen her so she ducked into the library and closed the door behind her quietly and hoped the woman would pass her by.

She didn't usually resort to hiding from people who annoyed her but Cordelia was grating on her very last nerve and she didn't think she could get through another of her consoling little talks about how tragic it was that Salazar wasn't _doing the right thing by her_.

"Hiding from Professor Disdel?" Jocelyn asked with a smile. "I seem to get more traffic in here when she's in the area. Students and Professors alike."

"I can't believe Godric hired her," Rowena muttered. "She's…she's…"

"A cow?" a cheeky third year boy suggested as he approached the librarian with a pile of books to check out.

Rowena felt herself smiling even though she knew it was entirely inappropriate to be discussing the faults of another teacher with a student.

"Maybe she really is trying to be friends?" Jocelyn suggested after the student had disappeared with his books.

Rowena raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Perhaps not," Jocelyn amended.

"You're just too nice," Rowena said. "Plus you're safely out of the way here in the library and don't have to put up with her in the staff common room now that you and Augustus have your own cottage in Hogsmeade. You can escape from her whenever you like."

"She hasn't really bothered me that much," Jocelyn admitted. "I think I'm probably beneath her notice. Though I did hear her telling Rhys that she thought he'd make a wonderful Potions Professor the other week."

"Urgh. I think she's at her worst when she's sucking up everyone. Makes me want to vomit. Well I want to puke most of the time these days anyway, but she makes it even worse."

"The morning sickness will pass eventually," Jocelyn assured her.

"How is little Calliope anyway?"

"Thriving. She's with Augustus at the moment while he's working in the stables. She loves the horses. I just _know_ she's going to want one of her own as soon as she's old enough to ride."

"Is that a hint for a pay rise?"

"Is it working?"

"Maybe." Rowena laughed and sat down in the spare chair at the desk. "I'll have a word with the others at the next staff meeting. Considering what you've done with the place here I'd say it's long overdue anyway."

"It does look a lot brighter in here now doesn't it?" Jocelyn said as she looked around the place.

"I hardly recognise the place," Rowena agreed. "I could stay in here forever…well I could if I was sure that Cordelia wasn't going to turn up…ever."

"Well once you and Salazar are married she'll have nothing to commiserate with you about."

"Thankfully. But each time she makes some supposedly consoling remark about me being a _fallen woman_ or even worse, _soiled goods_, I just want to tell her about the wedding in order to shut her up."

"You don't really think she'd tell Salazar's father if she found out about it?"

"I'm sure she would. That's why only a handful of people know; you, Augustus, Helga, Wilbur and Godric. And Salazar's mother of course. My parents have apparently been told but at least we can be sure they won't tell anyone, they're too ashamed of the way I've scandalised the family for all these years."

"Maybe they'll come around once you're actually married?" Jocelyn suggested.

"Perhaps. I don't really care either way any more. Wilbur is giving me away in place of my father. You and Helga are maids…matrons of honour, Godric's best man. It's actually much easier to organise with so few guests."

"I thought Salazar's mother was doing most of the organising?"

"Well, yes…and that helps too."

* * *

"There's been another attack," Cordelia said as she hovered at other side of the staff table with another letter. "Even closer to the school. Practically on the other side of Hogsmeade."

Salazar leaned closer to see where Cordelia was pointing at the letter. "That's more than fifty miles away," he commented and turned back to his breakfast. "I think you'll find that if you check a map it's actually even further away than the last one."

"But it's still too close," Cordelia said. "The students must be so worried."

"They don't look that worried," Rowena pointed out. "They probably don't even know about it."

"I'm sure the Dingle twins are distraught with the news," Cordelia continued.

Rowena scanned the hall for the twins who were looking anything but distraught as they levitated the bench of the neighbouring table whilst several students still seated on it clung on for dear life.

"Were their relatives involved again?" Salazar asked as he took the letter from Cordelia to take a closer look at it.

"Apparently," Cordelia confirmed. "Their father's brothers were involved. They think that having witches and wizards in the family is something to be ashamed of and they've been rounding up the locals as they try to track down others."

"I wonder if they know about Hogwarts," Salazar said with a worried frown.

"I'm sure they do," Cordelia replied. "The school is becoming famous and every wizarding family in the country has heard about it by now. They all want their children to come here."

"But the muggles don't know about it," Rowena pointed out.

"But what about those who are related to wizards?" Cordelia asked. "Those like the Dingles?"

"Why don't you go and ask Godric about it?" Salazar asked. "I've mentioned these issues to him previously and can't say I got much of a response from him or Helga. Maybe you'll have better luck."

Cordelia looked like she might linger a while longer but finally drifted off towards the Entrance Hall.

"Do you think we should be worried about the attacks?" Rowena asked once Cordelia was safely out of earshot.

"I think we should be more worried than Godric and Helga are. I just don't see the point of bringing up the problem with them all over again when I know exactly what they'll say. Unless some real proof appears that the students are in danger by allowing muggle-borns here then they aren't going to change the policy."

"But do you think they're in danger?" Rowena asked.

"I don't know, and that's what worries me. But if those corresponding with Cordelia have their facts right then it's only a matter of time before we find the mobs at our door."

"Maybe she's lying," Rowena suggested. "I wouldn't put it past her."

"Me neither, but the last attack certainly happened the way she was told. I looked into it right away."

"I still don't trust her," Rowena said as she toyed with the last of her breakfast, her appetite had disappeared with Cordelia's appearance.

* * *

"What were you doing talking to _her_?" Rowena asked after Cordelia had flounced out of the room.

"She's not so bad," Helga said. "I think she'd really like to be friends with us all."

"Not so bad?" Rowena repeated. "Are you insane or just stupid? She's –"

"I wish you'd stop calling me stupid!" Helga cut her off with a snarl. "I'm only trying to be friendly to her. She's a member of staff whether we initially wanted her here or not so why not try to get along with her?"

"But she's – "

"A fine Ancient Runes Professor," Helga finished of Rowena's sentence although not the way that Rowena had intended.

"I suppose she's adequate," Rowena conceded.

"She's more than adequate at the subject and the marks of the students have improved a great deal over the last few months."

"You mean she's better at teaching the subject than I was?" Rowena snapped.

"No, but she really is an expert on them."

"And I'm not?"

"You were stretching yourself with two subjects for so long I think perhaps you were overdoing it and…"

"The students were _all_ passing my end of term tests without any trouble at all. And at least they _liked_ my lessons."

"It's not a question of whose lessons they like the most," Helga pointed out. "It's a question of what's best for the school and Cordelia really is an excellent teacher."

"You sound like she's your new best friend," Rowena muttered.

"Now who's being stupid?" Helga asked. "This isn't a popularity contest to see who the students like the most. It's about who the better teacher is."

"So you _do_ think she's a better teacher than I am?"

"You're being childish," Helga snapped.

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

Rowena stuck out her tongue in a thoroughly childish gesture and stormed back out of the room. She wasn't too surprised to see Cordelia loitering in the corridor again and positively growled at her as she stalked past.

* * *

"She practically said that I was a rubbish teacher and that Cordelia is far better," Rowena fumed as she paced her quarters.

"_Helga_ said that?" Salazar asked doubtfully. "That doesn't sound like her."

"Well she did!" Rowena replied. "Don't you believe me?"

"Of course I believe you, but it still doesn't sound like Helga to say something like that."

"Well she did!" Rowena repeated. "She thinks Cordelia is wonderful, she's her new best friend. She probably wants her to teach Transfiguration too after I've had the baby."

"I'm sure she doesn't," Salazar said. "I've never seen Cordelia transfigure anything and since she doesn't have a time-turner she can't teach two subjects like you did."

"She's probably an expert on transfiguration too, along with every other subject."

"Well she's no expert on brewing potions," Salazar replied. "She's as hopeless as you in that regard."

"That's not funny," Rowena snapped.

"Try not to let her bother you," Salazar said.

"That's easier said than done."

* * *

"Can't you just fire her?" Salazar asked. "She's upsetting Rowena every other day and it's not good for her or the baby."

Godric sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "She hasn't done anything wrong. She's an excellent teacher and has been quite pleasant since she joined us."

"There must be someone else out there who can teach the subject just as well," Salazar said.

"There isn't anyone," Godric replied. "Rowena looked herself in the summer didn't she?"

"You didn't exactly give her enough time to find someone though, did you?" Salazar pointed out. "You left it until the last minute to tell us you'd hired Cordelia and then it was too late to find someone else."

"We really don't need anyone else. She's one of the foremost experts in Ancient Runes and we're lucky to have her on our staff…especially considering that she'd actually be making more money if she'd continued to teach in private residences."

"I doubt that very much."

"Oh, it's true. I checked with her former employers after she'd commented about the rate we offered her."

"So she's been complaining about her pay then?"

"No, she just mentioned it in passing."

"We're getting off the point," Salazar said as he struggled to remember what the point was. "She's upsetting Rowena at every opportunity. If you can't fire her at least can you sort her out?"

"I don't really see that she's done anything wrong," Godric replied. "Rowena really should try to get along with her. Cordelia has noticed Rowena's hostility already and, confidentially, she has commented on it several times to me."

"If Rowena's hostile then it's with good reason," Salazar's voice was rising and his hand was inching towards his wand.

"Rowena has been acting like a spoilt, childish little brat for months," Godric shouted back.

"She has not!" Salazar yelled as his spell sent Godric flying into the cupboard behind him. Books clattered from the shelves and a jar smashed on the floor.

Godric reached for his own wand but Salazar was already gone by the time he was ready to respond.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"It's too tight," Rowena said as she drew in a deep breath.

"I thought having the final fitting just a week ago would have been enough," Katelyn said as she magically let out the robes a little more, enabling Rowena to breathe properly.

Rowena was stood in Jocelyn's living room in Hogsmeade, hopping from one foot to the other with thinly concealed impatience. The day she'd been waiting for all these years had finally arrived and in just a few hours time she'd be Rowena Slytherin.

They'd decided against having the ceremony in the school grounds; Cordelia had been hovering around far too frequently to make it possible. Instead it was going to take place on the new village green in Hogsmeade. The villagers knew that something was happening there but until the ceremony was underway they wouldn't know exactly what.

"Stand still," Katelyn urged her. She finished re-sewing the wedding robes and stood up to survey the finished product. "Beautiful," she said with a smile. "And the diadem suits you perfectly. Now go sit down and try not to spill anything on your robes before the ceremony."

"I can just magically clean them if I do," Rowena pointed out as she picked up one of the small apple tarts that Helga had baked the day before.

"Yes, if you notice you've spilt something then I'm sure you could, but you rarely notice when you're being messy, do you?"

Rowena shrugged as she spilt crumbs down her front. "I'm eating for two," she pointed out, rather unnecessarily.

"And have been for as long as I've known you," Katelyn replied with a laugh.

"You're sure that Salazar's father isn't going to suddenly appear and stop the ceremony?" Rowena asked.

"He doesn't even know about the wedding," Katelyn assured her. "I left him back at the manor this morning. He was dealing with his correspondence and was in a fairly pleasant mood. I doubt he would have been so amenable had he known where I was going."

"I don't want anything to go wrong today," Rowena said as she finished the tart. "I want everything to be perfect."

"Of course you do. I'm only sorry that your mother hasn't come to see you."

"Don't worry about it," Rowena replied. "You've been more of a mother to me the last ten years than she has."

Katelyn pulled Rowena into a hug and gave her a watery smile. "I'd be proud to have you as a daughter," she said. "Very proud."

* * *

Cordelia stood on the steps to the castle and looked out calmly at the grounds. Today was the day she'd been waiting for. Everything was in place…or almost.

The founders had all disappeared from the school during the course of the morning. Each had left separately, trying to be inconspicuously casual, weaving stories of Easter celebrations in Hogsmeade, and foolishly believing she didn't know what they were planning. They had all underestimated her and they would come to regret that.

She'd been playing them off against each other for months and had been delighted every time she'd heard an argument, or even better, a duel between the easily manipulated founders.

Several parents had already pulled their children out of the school and more were leaving permanently at the end of the year, their education unfinished. Hogwarts was falling apart as the four founders had fought each other. None of them had the sense to realise that alone they could never successfully run the school.

She smiled to herself as she walked down the steps. A small dot on the horizon was heading towards the school. Her smile grew wider as she recognised the owl. The small parcel dropped into her waiting hands and the owl flew off back in the direction it had come from straight away. She opened the parcel quickly though she knew already what it would be. Her smile widened and she stored the contents in the pocket of her travelling robes.

She hurried towards the gates and once she passed the boundaries she apparated out of sight with a pop.

* * *

The muggle tavern was dirty and Cordelia didn't want to know what was in the stew that was placed before her. She screwed up her nose in distaste and turned to the muggle sitting opposite her. He had no reservations about the food and was eating with relish. Of course the fact that Cordelia was paying an extortionate amount of money for the meal probably helped.

"So you understand what you have to do?" Cordelia asked quietly from beneath the hood that covered most of her face.

"I got it," the muggle replied between mouthfuls of stew.

"The spells that keep muggles from the school have been temporarily lifted for the day," Cordelia confirmed. She'd convinced Godric to do this with remarkable ease. All it had taken was the creation of a fictional muggle relative who wanted to visit her during the Easter holidays. It was only for a single day and what could possibly go wrong? Godric had confirmed that he'd lifted the charms repelling muggles that morning shortly before he'd left for Hogsmeade. No one seriously expected a muggle to stumble across them during the time they were not hidden from view.

The muggle nodded though she suspected he didn't really understand all her words.

"You know exactly where the school is?" Cordelia asked. "It's right here." She pointed at the crudely drawn map. "This has to be timed perfectly."

"Mid-afternoon," the muggle replied with another nod. "Plenty of time to get there."

"You should leave soon," Cordelia advised. "It's further than it seems. Your friends?"

"They're around," the muggle confirmed with a leer towards her. Cordelia recoiled and gritted her teeth. "I do 'ave one question though."

Cordelia nodded.

"What's in it for you?" the muggle asked. "You're one of them so why 'ave you been organising these attacks on your own kind?"

"Oh, I'm not the brains behind all of this," Cordelia whispered. "I'm just passing on the instructions."

"So who is planning all this?"

"Someone you should pray you never meet," Cordelia replied coldly.

With that parting advice she stood up to leave and swept from the room. Everything was in place.

* * *

Rowena looked out the window towards the village green. "I can't see him," she said as she craned her neck to see. "You don't think he's changed his mind do you?"

"I'm sure he hasn't," Helga assured her. "He was still planning on turning up when I popped into the tavern earlier."

"Maybe he's drunk?" Rowena suggested.

"He wasn't at the bar," Helga said. "He's got a room upstairs there to get ready in. When I stopped by they were busy discussing the first Quidditch league games with Wilbur."

"Still?" Jocelyn asked from the doorway. "They've only managed to drum up enough members for four teams…how much can they possibly have to discuss?"

"Wilbur could talk for hours about the game when they only had one team," Helga pointed out. "Maybe someone should go and see if they're going to surface any time soon?"

"At least if they're discussing Quidditch then they're not fighting again," Rowena pointed out.

It seemed that there had been one argument or another every day for months. If it wasn't Godric and Salazar then it was Helga and Godric. And if they were all on speaking terms there was a good chance that she and Helga had had harsh words, or worse. Perhaps it was the strain of running the increasingly large school, or the fact that they had all been living in such close quarters for so long? Rowena didn't know and tried not to dwell on it. There had been an unspoken truce for the wedding day though, they had all been waiting for the day too long to want anything to go wrong and they'd all pushed their other concerns aside for the day.

"I'll go see what's keeping them," Jocelyn said, stepping towards the door as she spoke.

"No need," Rowena said with a wide grin. "Here they come now."

"Get away from the window," Helga ordered. "It's bad luck, what if Salazar looks this way and sees you?"

Rowena rushed to the far side of the room and sat on the furthest chair.

"Not taking any chances?" Katelyn said with a smile. "Well I'll leave you here and go to the green myself. See you soon." With that she gave Rowena a quick kiss on the cheek and disappeared out of the door just as Wilbur walked in.

* * *

Rowena arrived on the village green on Wilbur's arm. The sun shone down on the small wedding party as they gathered together. A few of the villagers had wandered over to see what was happening and joined the party, perhaps hopeful of being invited to the reception afterwards. Rowena smiled at them encouragingly as she passed them on her way. Finally she saw Salazar waiting for her and focused her attention entirely on him.

She didn't hear the sounds of the shouting until well after everyone else.

"Hogwarts!" Rhys shouted as he hurried onto the green. "Hogwart's is under attack!"

He looked at the party on the green as he realised what was happening and what he had interrupted.

"Cordelia said you were down here!" he panted. "I wouldn't interrupt but…the students…the school!"

"We're on our way," Godric assured him as he apparated to the school gates. Rhys disappeared with a second pop and Salazar turned to the wizard who had been hired to conduct the ceremony. "Wait here!" he ordered before turning to Rowena. "You too," he added before disappearing with a pop.

Rowena followed him a moment later. Did he really believe that she'd wait behind whilst the students who had stayed at school for the holidays were in danger?

"How did they get in here?" Helga asked as she ran through the gates ahead of Rowena.

"Rowena, you should go back to Hogsmeade," Katelyn advised as she too appeared on the edge of the grounds. Rowena took no notice as she hurried up the path.

"What happened to the muggle repelling charms?" Rowena asked though Helga was well out of earshot and she was struggling to keep up with her.

She could hear the mob before she saw them. They were shouting and yelling as they tried to get inside the doors of the castle.

In the air she could see half a dozen students firing hexes from their brooms. Her own wand was in her hand already and she fired off spell after spell as soon as she came into range.

The mob was the largest she'd ever seen and larger than any that Cordelia had told them about in her regular reports. With many of the students home for the Easter holidays they were vastly outnumbered.

"Rowena get back to the village!" Salazar yelled from somewhere on the other side of the crowd.

Rowena ignored him again and continued to fire off spell after spell into the mob.

She heard Wilbur ordering Helga to safety as well but like herself she stood her ground and continued to aim one hex after another into the crowd.

"Bombs away!" a voice from above yelled. Suddenly the stench of more than a dozen dungbombs simultaneously exploding filled the air and Rowena felt her stomach constrict at the smell. She doubled over as she started to retch.

The blow to her head came swiftly and sharply and the world went black as she crumpled to the ground.

* * *

"What were you _thinking_?" Salazar yelled at Godric as the other man walked into the hospital wing. "Letting the charms down, and when there were so many of us off the premises. Why?"

"It was only for the day," Godric said. "How was I to know this would happen?"

"And look what _has_ happened!" Salazar shouted as he pointed to the hospital beds.

It was now nearly midnight and the mob had finally been driven from the school though not without casualties on both sides.

Two students were laying in beds with broken bones, their friends were surrounding them as they all relived the excitement of their battle. Wilbur's hands had been badly burnt and Rhys had been knocked unconscious by a misfired spell from his own side.

The worst casualty though was Rowena. She'd been knocked unconscious at the edge of the mob and had been in their path as the muggles had been driven back from the castle walls. Iris Gudgeon had tended her tirelessly for more than an hour but she still hadn't woken up. Katelyn had dealt with the other injuries and was now assisting Iris with Rowena.

"If you two are going to start fighting or duelling again go and do it some place else!" Iris snapped.

"Is she all right?" a quiet voice asked from the doorway. Cordelia looked into the room cautiously, as though unsure of her welcome.

"We don't know yet," Helga replied.

"What about the baby?" Cordelia asked.

"We don't _know_!" Helga repeated more forcefully. "Are the rest of the students in their quarters?"

"All safe and sound," Cordelia replied. "Would you like me to escort these to their quarters?" she gestured towards the uninjured students still in the ward.

"Thank you," Godric replied with a nod.

"Let me just take a moment to assure you how responsible I feel for what has happened today." Cordelia sniffled slightly. "If I hadn't asked you to remove the muggle-repelling charms today this would never have happened."

"_You_ asked for the charms to be removed?" Salazar asked. "_Why?_"

"I had family visiting, muggle relatives and they couldn't get here with the charms in place."

"Where are they now?" Helga asked. "I don't recall seeing them earlier when we were checking everyone was safe."

"They left shortly after lunch," Cordelia said. "They weren't here when the attack started."

"Don't worry yourself," Godric assured her. "You did the right thing sending Rhys to the village so promptly. It could have been a lot worse if we hadn't returned when we did."

Suddenly a high thin scream came from Rowena's bed, calling back the attention of everyone in the room. Salazar rushed to her side and grabbed her hand.

"Please stand back," Iris asked as she pushed Salazar out of the way once more. Rowena continued to thrash about on the bed but she was no longer screaming. "Professor Disdel get those uninjured children out of here, the rest of you please wait outside and let us work."

"You too Salazar," Katelyn added understandingly. "We'll send one of the house elves to find you if there's any change."

Slowly and reluctantly all but the injured left the room.

* * *

"And you _still_ say that the muggles aren't a threat to us?" Salazar asked incredulously. "Relatives of two of our muggle-born students were in that mob!"

"The twins were at home for the holidays. Neither they nor their parents had anything to do with this." Godric slammed the goblet of wine onto the desk, spilling some of the liquid onto the paperwork still scattered across it.

"How else would their relatives know the location of the school?" Salazar asked. "Someone must have told them the location in order for them to get here so quickly. This was planned."

"We're _not_ turning the muggle-borns out of the school," Helga said from her seat in the corner of the office.

"What would it take to convince you two?" Salazar yelled. "If Rowena loses our baby? If she _dies_? What?"

"She'll pull through," Helga said. "She's a fighter. You know that."

"She's unconscious in the hospital wing fighting for her life and you don't think it might be prudent to start being a little more selective about who we invite in here?"

"You're not thinking straight right now," Godric said quietly. "You're worried and tired and…"

"I'm thinking perfectly straight," Salazar snapped. "I've been telling you for months, years even, that one day this would happen!"

"We'll discuss this when Rowena comes round," Godric said in a tired voice.

"_If_ she comes round," Salazar replied. "And you better hope that she does."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Salazar was pacing alone in the common room when the first light of dawn crept over the horizon.

Cordelia poked her head round the door.

"Is there news?" he asked.

"No," Cordelia replied with a shake of her head. "I was just coming to ask you the same thing and…"

"And what?" Salazar asked impatiently.

"And to tell you that I've handed in my notice to Godric this morning. I feel _so_ responsible about what happened and, to be perfectly honest, I don't feel safe here any more. If the muggles can break in so easily…"

"Staff leaving will just encourage parents to take the students out of the school," Salazar pointed out.

"I'm sorry," Cordelia said with a sniffle. "I just have to do what I feel best. Tabitha's staying though. She only has another year to go anyway."

Salazar shrugged. Cordelia's niece was the least of his worries and he certainly wasn't going to talk her out of her decision. Things had been difficult for everyone from the moment she'd arrived at the school. Sure, they'd had their fights and arguments before but never like the last few months. It had all gone wrong at the start of September, on the day that Cordelia Disdel had set foot in Hogwarts as the new Ancient Runes Professor.

"Since I'm no longer a member of staff I think I could do with a little shot of that firewhisky that Godric has stored around here for medicinal purposes," Cordelia said with a rueful smile. "Would you like to join me?"

Salazar shook his head.

Cordelia rummaged around in the cupboard and finally produced the bottle. "Are you sure?" she asked as she waved the half empty bottle enticingly in front of him.

* * *

"What do you mean you can't find him?" asked Katelyn as Clover the house elf looked worriedly around the room.

"Master Slytherin is gone. Things are gone too. Master Slytherin not in Hogwarts. Clover not know where he is."

"Well he can't have gone far," Helga said.

"What do you mean his things are gone?" Katelyn asked.

"Master Slytherin's personal things from his room. All gone. Empty." Clover edged towards the door as Katelyn hurried from the room.

"What's happening?" Rowena asked weakly from her bed. "Where's Sal?"

"I'm sure he'll be here soon," Helga assured her. "Try to sleep and when you wake up I'm sure he'll be right here at your side."

"Helga's right," Iris said from the other side of the bed. "He can't have gone far."

Rowena closed her eyes and tried to sleep but she wasn't tired. She was too worried. Something was wrong. She didn't know what exactly but something was very wrong and she felt icy cold as she strained to hear the whispered conversations of the others at the far side of the room.

* * *

By mid-afternoon Salazar was still nowhere to be found. The castle had been searched from top to bottom. Rowena had even told Katelyn how to access the secret chamber and after receiving a whispered warning about the Basilisk the older woman went to check the only place the rest of the staff could not search. He wasn't there.

"I don't understand it," Helga said. "Why would he just leave? Did you say something else to him last night after he left us?" She turned to Godric who shook his head in response.

"I should return home," Katelyn said. "I'll have been missed many hours ago."

"Maybe Salazar's at your house?" Helga suggested. "He doesn't have any other place to go to. He sold his own house when we decided to live here at the school permanently."

"I don't think he'll have gone home unless…" Katelyn's voice trailed off and she frowned slightly as an uneasy thought crossed her mind.

"Unless?" Godric prompted.

"I was just wondering if maybe he might have thought that his father had something to do with what happened yesterday. I don't see how he could but…"

"But it was a bit of a coincidence that the attack happened just in time to ruin the wedding," Helga finished.

"I'll return home immediately," Katelyn said as she secured her travelling cloak and swept out of the castle. "I'll send word back right away with one of our house elves if Salazar isn't at the manor. If he is there I'll drag him back here myself after I've raked him over the coals for worrying us."

"The rest of the students are returning in a couple of days," Helga said as they walked back to the hospital wing. "We need to sort out the lessons and who's covering what. Rowena's going to be in the hospital wing for at least a couple of weeks and Iris wants to keep Rhys in there for a week too."

"Will Wilbur be able to take over any of their subjects?" Godric asked. "Or will he be unable to teach his own?"

"He can teach Quidditch from the ground without any trouble," Helga replied. "He may take over Potions temporarily as well. As for the rest, I just don't know."

"We need to find someone to cover Ancient Runes as well," Godric said with a frustrated sigh.

"What?" Helga stopped in her tracks.

"Cordelia has handed in her notice and packed her bags. She's leaving us permanently."

"Good riddance," Helga muttered. "Something tells me that without her presence this year might have run a lot smoother than it has done so far. When's she leaving?"

"She said she'd be gone by lunchtime," Godric replied.

"Lunch was hours ago."

"I forgot."

"Me too."

Helga looked out the window as they passed. She hoped that the worst was over and that Salazar would reappear soon.

* * *

"There doesn't seem to be as many children as before the holidays," Helga whispered to Godric as they sat down to eat in the Great Hall on the first day of the new term.

"A number of parents have sent owls informing us that they don't want their children to return here because of safety issues," Godric whispered back.

"But so many?" Helga said. "They'll be missing out on so much we can offer them."

"Several of the parents indicated they would be continuing the education with private tutoring. Quite a few have asked for reports on their progress to enable them to see which areas the tutors will need to focus on."

"It sounds like Cordelia will soon be in gainful employment again," Helga muttered.

"I have to admit that thought crossed my mind too."

"What's going on over there?" Helga asked, pointing discreetly to a spot between the Ravenclaw and Slytherin tables with her knife.

Godric followed her gaze and saw that two of the sixth year Ravenclaw students were sitting backwards on their bench, talking quietly to one of the Slytherin students who was doing likewise. They kept casting glances towards the unusually empty staff table and nudging each other.

"I think they're trying to decide whether to come over here," Helga said quietly.

Sure enough a few moments later two of the three students stood up and started to make their way to the staff table. A hush seemed to fall over the rest of the hall as the other students realised what was happening. It was very rare for a student to approach the staff table at meal times but no one in the room had failed to notice the absences that had yet to be explained.

"Professor Hufflepuff," the first student began. She looked hesitantly at the boy beside her for moral support.

"Yes Lilith," Helga replied in what she hoped was, if not an encouraging tone, then at least a pleasant one.

"We were wondering," Lilith looked at her friend momentarily and faltered. "Well, we couldn't help but notice…"

"We wondered where the rest of the professors are?" Adam, the representative from the Slytherin table interrupted.

"Well Professor Ravenclaw and Professor Lynch are both in the hospital wing," Helga replied. "They're both recovering from accidents over the holidays."

"They're all right though?" Lilith asked worriedly.

"They will be," Helga replied kindly.

"What about Professor Slytherin and Professor Disdel?" Adam asked. "Are they in the hospital wing too?"

"Professor Disdel has left the school for a new teaching post," Helga said with a false smile. "I'm sure we all wish her the best of luck in her new position. Ah it looks like the desserts have just appeared. Why don't you take your seats again?"

Unfortunately the two students remained in their spots, the temptation of the sweet savouries not drawing them back to their seats as Helga had hoped.

"But what about Professor Slytherin?" asked Adam as Lilith nodded that she too wished to know the answer to this question. "Is he with Professor Ravenclaw?"

"Is there _anyone_ in the school who doesn't know about Professors Ravenclaw and Slytherin?" Godric asked with a slight trace of amusement, the first that he'd shown since the day of the wedding.

"No," Helga and the two students in front of them replied in unison.

"Professor Slytherin has been called away," Godric said. "Hopefully he'll be back with us before too long."

"But where's he gone?" Lilith asked.

"I'm afraid that's the personal business of Professor Slytherin," Helga replied. Katelyn's house elf had appeared shortly after she had departed with the news that Salazar was not at the Slytherin family home. Owls had been sent to various friends and colleagues but no one had seen any trace of him since his mysterious disappearance.

"But why would he leave if Rowena…I mean Professor Ravenclaw, especially if she isn't well?" Lilith asked before looking at her equally sceptical friend for backup.

"That doesn't really sound like Professor Slytherin," Adam commented with a frown. "He's never left the school before."

"And he's going to become a father soon," Lilith added. "There's something strange going on here."

"Too right," Adam agreed as he turned back towards the Slytherin table. Lilith followed behind him.

The hush that had fallen over the hall disappeared as Lilith and Adam took their seats and everyone began to discuss what they had heard.

"They're right," Helga whispered to Godric. "There _is_ something strange about all this."


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

It was nearly two months before Rowena left the hospital wing. Madam Gudgeon privately suspected that she would have been up and about far sooner were it not for the constant and draining worry over the disappearance of Salazar.

The Potions Professor had not been seen since the day of the aborted wedding and rumours about his disappearance were flying through the school. There were even suggestions that he'd been murdered during the holidays and the crime had been covered up by the rest of the teachers.

Excuses about personal business could only go so far and the longer he remained away, the less the students believed them.

Rowena didn't go back to teaching after she returned to the main school. Instead she spent most of her time hiding out the Come and Go room. It was the only place she knew of where no one could disturb her if she didn't want them to. She didn't know if it was the magic of the room itself or her own gloomy thoughts that made the room seem less cheerful and cosy than it had once been. Somehow the colours of the fabrics seemed duller, the fire was less warming and the whole room far less welcoming than she had once known it to be.

She remained in close contact with Katelyn who was the one person she felt was perhaps even more worried than she was about Salazar's abrupt departure. Unfortunately the other woman had been as unsuccessful in her endeavours to find Salazar as Rowena and the other founders had been. Salazar had not been seen or heard of in months and Rowena had long since stopped expecting him to suddenly walk through the door.

In the distance she heard the sounds of students departing for the summer holidays. She wondered idly how many of them would return in the autumn.

She'd avoided the students as much as she could during the last few months. Their sympathetic gazes and kind words had reduced her to tears so frequently she felt she might have flooded the school if she'd remained in their company too much.

Whilst she had been in the hospital wing Madam Gudgeon had acted as a buffer between her and the rest of the school. She delivered the thoughtful gifts from the students but made sure that they didn't bother Rowena or tire her out too much with their visits.

She had no interest in the school or the students or anything else. The only thing on her mind was wondering what had happened to Salazar.

Unfortunately after so many months without any trace of him she could only come to one conclusion. He didn't want to be found.

There were many ways that a witch or wizard could remain hidden, they'd used many of the methods on the school itself and she knew that Salazar knew them all as well as she did. And until he chose to resurface there was nothing she could do that she hadn't already done to try to find him sooner.

She only wished she knew why he had left so suddenly and without a word to any of them.

* * *

Rowena paced nervously at the gates of Hogwarts. It was only a few minutes until sunset and soon she'd find out once and for all what had happened to Salazar.

She pulled out Katelyn's letter and read it yet again.

_Rowena_

_Time is short so I cannot put all I've discovered into this letter. I have finally uncovered the whereabouts of Salazar and what I believe to be the reason for his departure and continued absence from your side. _

_Meet me at the gates of Hogwarts at sunset tomorrow._

_Your mother in spirit if not in name._

_Katelyn _

"It's sunset," Helga said, as though Rowena had not noticed that the orb had at last dipped below the horizon.

Rowena looked around her but there was no sign of Katelyn arriving as promised.

A spray of dust from the sun scorched road caused them both to draw in their breaths but it turned out to be nothing more than a rabbit that had strayed too far from its warren.

"Where do you think he is?" Helga asked.

"If I knew that I'd have gone to speak to him before now," Rowena replied.

"Sorry," Helga apologised. "I didn't think."

"Don't worry about it," Rowena said as she continued to pace.

Every now and then she stopped and rubbed at the small of her back, it had been aching all day and she wanted nothing more than to sit down and rest. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at a nearby boulder. An instant later it transfigured itself into a comfortable chair that she settled into.

"I'm sure she'll be here soon," Helga assured her. "I expect she's finding it difficult to get away from the manor."

"No doubt," Rowena replied. "She'll be here soon. She wants to see Salazar as much as I do."

"You don't think she might have gone on to see him alone?" Helga asked. "She sent that owl yesterday and she's been as desperate to see him as you."

"I suppose she might have done," Rowena admitted. She turned the idea over in her mind for a few minutes before shaking her head. "No, she'd have come to fetch me first. I'm sure of it."

"I wonder why she didn't just apparate here?" Helga mused quietly.

"Her last letter indicated that she was finding it difficult to get away from the manor at all. It almost sounded like she was being held under house arrest."

The sky was darkening rapidly now that the sun had set. As the minutes passed Rowena felt more and more uneasy. The same coldness that had settled over her in the hospital wing on the day of the wedding was back, icy and chilling her to the very bone.

She couldn't settle in the chair and stood up to pace once more.

"Something's happened to her," she said. She was sure she was right the moment the words had left her lips. It was now more than an hour after sunset and there was no sign of Katelyn or anyone with word of her.

"Maybe you should apparate to the manor," Helga suggested.

Rowena contemplated the suggestion for a moment before shaking her head. "My magic's been all over the place the last few months. I don't know if it's the worry or the baby or both…but I can't risk splinching myself right now. Not with the baby."

Helga nodded in understanding. "Would you like me to apparate over there?" she asked.

"Would you?" Rowena asked. "Do you know where the manor is?"

Helga nodded in confirmation. "I've been there once before, I think I can manage it."

"Can you take me alongside?" Rowena asked.

"I think Katelyn would agree with me that you should stay here, especially now."

"I suppose you're right," Rowena replied. "Just make sure you don't let anyone but Katelyn see you."

"I won't," Helga assured her before apparating out of sight with a pop.

* * *

The manor was not guarded with as many spells as Helga had thought there would be and she slipped into the grounds without any great difficulty.

She hurried across the gardens, wondering where Katelyn was likely to be. She wished she could think of an excuse that would enable her to walk right up to the door and ask for her. Unfortunately nothing was springing to mind that would make for an acceptable reason in the eyes of the elder Salazar Slytherin.

The front door was out of the question but what about the back? Helga ducked down as she circled the house for an alternative way of entering the building. Finally she spotted an open window on the ground floor. The room was in darkness and it appeared that the shutters on the window had merely been forgotten. She hoisted herself up onto the ledge and climbed into the room as quietly as she could.

The room appeared to be a study and there was a sliver of light on the far side of the room showing the door to the hallway.

Helga crept across the room, her wand in her hand as she tried to make as little noise as possible. She wondered what the punishment was in the area for witches caught trespassing and hoped that she would never find out.

She eased the door open slowly. There didn't seem to be anyone in the hallway and the candle on the table looked as though it had been long forgotten.

She kept close to wall, hiding in the shadows whenever she could as she tiptoed down the hallway.

There wasn't even a house elf in sight. No sounds came from the rooms that she passed and were it not for the occasional candle left burning she may have wondered if the place had long since been deserted.

It crossed her mind that perhaps Katelyn hadn't written from the manor but it was too late now and there was only one way to find out for sure.

Slowly and quietly she moved from one room to another, listening at the doors and peering into the rooms.

She wondered if the Slytherins had gone out for the evening and how it would look if they returned and found her prowling around their home. Only the thought of Rowena waiting outside the school gates kept her searching long after caution should have decreed that she leave.

"You shouldn't be here." The squeaky voice came from behind her as she searched the upper floors. She jumped and her hand flew to her throat. She turned round to see the small house elf beckoning her into a room she had not yet checked.

"You go," the house elf advised. He looked as nervous as Helga felt.

"Where's your mistress?" Helga asked. She made no effort to leave and finally felt that at last she might be able to get some answers.

"Mistress gone," the house elf replied. "You go too."

"Where has she gone?" Helga asked instead.

"Mistress gone," the house elf repeated.

"Where's your master?" Helga asked. "Is he gone too?"

"Master away," the house elf replied. "You go."

"What about the young master?"

"Young master away long while."

"Do you know where?" Helga asked, wishing the house elf could give her more helpful responses but knowing that such thoughts were useless.

"No. The masters are away."

"And your mistress?" Helga asked again.

"Mistress gone." The house elf shifted slightly causing the moonlight to fall across his weathered face. Helga crouched down on the floor and saw what she had missed in the darkness of the room. The house elf's face was tear stained and his eyes watery. He clutched at the cloth he was wearing and dabbed at his eyes over and over.

"What happened to your mistress?" she asked, fearing the answer even as she spoke the question.

* * *

Rowena was sitting down in the chair she had conjured when the tell-tale pop indicated that someone had apparated in the vicinity. She peered into the darkness and saw that Helga had returned. She felt her hopes plummet again when she saw that she was alone.

"Let's go inside," Helga said as she approached Rowena.

"Did you find her?" Rowena asked. "Why didn't she come here like she promised? Is she coming later? Tomorrow? Did she tell you where Salazar is?"

"Let's go inside," Helga repeated as she steered Rowena through the gates. Rowena stopped a moment and casually turned the chair back into the boulder.

"What happened?" she asked. "Did you get caught?"

"Only by a house elf," Helga confirmed. "Let's go inside."

"Why do you keep insisting we go inside?" Rowena asked. "Why would that make any difference to what you have to tell me?"

"Rowena, for once would you just do as I ask?" Helga asked in a strained voice.

Rowena stopped in her tracks suddenly and Helga sighed loudly in frustration. "I'll tell you everything as soon as we're inside, I promise."

"It's not that," Rowena said. "It's the baby. I think it's coming."

* * *

"So what are you going to name her?" Helga asked as she leaned over the cradle and looked at the small baby within.

"Helena," Rowena answered without hesitation. "Helena Katelyn."

"I didn't know you liked the name Helena," Helga commented.

"Salazar chose the name," Rowena replied.

"He's going to spoil her rotten," Helga said. "I mean…"

"When he comes back, I'm sure you're right. She's going to be adored by everyone."

"I'm going to make sure that everyone knows about her," Helga said. "We'll make the gossips work for us for once. Sooner or later the chattering old biddies will let the whole wizarding world know about her…including Salazar."

"I take it from that that Katelyn isn't going to be arriving here any time soon?" Rowena looked at her friend. Helga didn't return her gaze for several minutes. When she finally looked up there were tears in her eyes and Rowena knew that Katelyn would never be meeting her granddaughter.

"The house elf said it was an accident," Helga said as she perched on the end of the bed. "She was found at the foot of the stairs by one of the other house elves. They think she must have fallen. The house was empty apart from the house elves. She's been taken back to her family for the funeral."

"Do you know where?" Rowena asked. "I should go. Salazar will be there…he should be there."

"He wouldn't say where it was, it took me long enough to get the information out of him that I did. You know what house elves are like. Besides, you shouldn't be getting up yet anyway."

"I never knew her maiden name," said Rowena sadly. "I never thought to ask. I never thought it would be important."

"We'll find him," Helga assured her. "He won't be able to stay away from you and his daughter forever."

"But why has he stayed away all this time?" Rowena asked, tears falling down her face again. "Why has he done this to us?"

"I don't know," Helga replied sadly. "I wish I did, but…" Her voice trailed off as she too started to blink back tears.

For the second time that year what should have been a truly happy occasion was instead one of sorrow.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The summer passed slowly, the days dragged and Rowena found herself once again watching the gates for any sign of Salazar appearing.

For some reason she had managed to talk herself into believing that he would be returning for the new school year.

When the school re-opened in September the number of students was down on previous years but was not as bad as the remaining founders had initially feared. There were a few familiar faces missing but far more children had returned than they had anticipated.

Unfortunately for Rowena, the one face that she wanted to see the most didn't appear with the change of season. Of Salazar Slytherin there was still no sign.

Rowena came to the decision that keeping busy was the way to go and insisted on being allowed to teach once more. Her classes were as popular as they had always been and now she found that the students were insisting on bringing her presents for Helena. The students also spent a few minutes at the start of each class clucking over the cradle that was a permanent feature at the side of her desk.

Helena was, as predicted, adored by everyone who met her and somewhat spoilt.

Hogwarts thrived once more and the tensions of the previous year were gone. The new Potions and Ancient Runes professors had settled in quietly and were both more than adequate at their jobs.

But things just weren't the same as they had once been and it was Salazar's continued disappearance that was the cause.

* * *

Rowena had left Helena in the care of Helga as she took a much needed, restful walk through the Hogwarts grounds one early Saturday afternoon in October.

She fingered the time turner that still hung around her neck. It hadn't even occurred to her to use it until it was far too late to try.

The sounds of spells being cast came from somewhere on the grounds. That in itself wasn't unusual but the shouts and insults that accompanied them were.

Rowena hurried round the corner as fast as she could to apprehend the duelling students. She expected to find the usual suspects, the fifth years seemed to let off steam in this way nearly every year, but was instead left momentarily speechless by the normally well behaved seventh year girls who were presently hurling hexes at each other.

"You filthy little liar!" Lilith yelled as she sent another hex across the lawn to a student Rowena couldn't identify because she was too entangled in her robes.

"What's going on here?" Rowena asked in her most authoritative voice. "Lilith, I'm surprised at you!"

Lilith stopped sending hexes across the lawn but didn't lower her wand. Nor did she reply to Rowena's question.

"Would someone care to explain?" Rowena asked with a raise of one eyebrow at the girls.

It seemed that the grass was suddenly remarkably interesting as both of the girls stared down at the ground. Only the girl tangled up in her robes wasn't gazing dismally at the grass. She staggered to her feet, straightened her robes and turned round. It was then that Rowena recognised her.

"Tabitha, would you care to explain?" she asked as Cordelia's niece brushed herself down.

"They attacked me," Tabitha replied. "Two on one with no provocation at all."

"Hah!" Lilith snorted with contempt.

"What happened?" Rowena asked. She turned her glare from one girl to another but no one seemed willing to break the silence. Even Tabitha seemed reluctant to offer any further explanation.

"Or perhaps you would prefer to serve a few detentions before you tell me what's happening?"

"How many is a few?" Lilith asked.

"As many as it takes until someone decides to talk," Rowena replied. "We've enough work needing doing around here to fill detentions every day until Christmas, maybe even until the end of the school year."

"You can't do that!" Tabitha exclaimed.

"Oh I think you'll find that I can," Rowena replied. "So who's going to talk first? Lilith?"

"Why me?" Lilith asked sulkily.

"Very well, Tabitha?"

Tabitha scowled and looked pointedly in the other direction.

"Agnes?"

The third girl looked her in the eye quickly before ducking her head once more.

"Fine, detentions for all of you starting tonight."

"Awww," the seventh years whined in unison before voicing their individual complaints.

"If you don't want to do any detentions then tell me why you were duelling," Rowena said when they'd finally quietened down after they'd seen that she wasn't going to be swayed.

Rowena wasn't surprised that it was Tabitha who broke first.

"Lilith took offence at something I was telling Agnes," Tabitha explained. "Then they both turned on me."

"_You_ started this?" Rowena asked Lilith in surprise.

"She's a nasty little liar," Lilith said. "Anyone would have reacted the same way."

"Duelling is never the answer to problems," Rowena said. "Take this from someone who knows."

"But she was telling the most awful lies," Lilith said as she pointed at Tabitha.

"_I_ _was_ _not_," Tabitha retorted, reaching for her wand again even as she spoke.

"Expelliarmus," Rowena said as she raised her own wand. Tabitha's flew into her other hand. "Now is someone going to tell me what these lies or truths were?"

Suddenly the grass was apparently fascinating once again and no one was willing to meet her eyes.

"Now!" Rowena ordered.

"I was just telling Agnes about my aunt's letter from Thebes," Tabitha said.

"Your Aunt Cordelia I presume?" Rowena asked.

Tabitha nodded in confirmation.

"And what else?" Rowena asked. "I can't see that the news that Cordelia is in Thebes would be enough to warrant this sort of behaviour." Privately she thought that the news the woman was so far away was a reason to be rejoicing.

"She's probably not even in Thebes," Lilith muttered. "It's all a pack of lies."

"She _is_ in Thebes," Tabitha said. "I have her letter right here." She pulled a piece of parchment from the pocket of her robes and held it out for Rowena.

"No!" Lilith shouted and she grabbed the letter from Tabitha's outstretched hand before Rowena could accept it.

"Lilith?" Rowena held out her hand for the letter.

"So you _do_ think I was telling the truth?" Tabitha declared in triumph.

"I may believe that what you said is in the letter," Lilith replied. "But I don't believe it's true."

"So you don't think I'm a liar but you think my aunt is?" Tabitha asked with another scowl.

"Your aunt is a cow," Lilith replied. "She's left Hogwarts but she's still trying to stir up trouble from whatever rock she's living under."

"Lilith!" Rowena warned. "No matter what your feelings for Professor Disdel there's no need for that. She was an excellent teacher whilst she was with us."

"She wasn't as good as you," Lilith replied. "She spent too much of the class showing off instead of letting us figure things out for ourselves. I could have done a better job of teaching the class than she did."

"Nevertheless, that isn't really the matter at hand is it?" Rowena held out her hand for the letter again but Lilith was determinedly ignoring her.

"Maybe you should tell her?" Agnes, who had remained silent until this point, suggested.

Lilith looked at Agnes in surprise. There was a silent question on her face that Rowena was unsure of. Agnes gave a shrug and nodded.

Rowena watched the silent interplay quietly, hesitant to push once more when it seemed that Agnes was getting through to Lilith with more success than she had.

Finally Lilith nodded and turned to Rowena. "She says…her aunt says…she said that her aunt got married a couple of months ago and that she's in Thebes on her honeymoon."

"And?" Rowena asked, sure that there was more to this than what Lilith was saying. The cold feeling that had been almost constant for months grew worse.

"And…" Lilith turned to Agnes again who nodded once more encouragingly. She opened her mouth to speak again but Tabitha cut her off.

"My Aunt Cordelia married Professor Slytherin last month."

Rowena thought for a moment that she'd misheard the girl. Perhaps she was asleep, dreaming and her dream had turned into a nightmare? Maybe she meant Sal's father? He and Cordelia had corresponded quite frequently during the time she'd been at Hogwarts. That must be what she meant. It was an easy mistake to make when the father and son had the same name. But she'd called him Professor…hadn't she?

She took the letter from Lilith who now relinquished it without an argument.

"I'm sure it's not true," Lilith said. "Professor Slytherin wouldn't do that to you. He just wouldn't."

"It _is_ true," Tabitha said. "I was at the wedding myself."

Rowena looked at the letter but couldn't seem to read it. Only one word sprang from the page and it cut through her like a knife. _Sal_, the name she'd given him all those years before was right there on the page. She blinked several times until she managed to focus on the rest of the letter.

"It seems that you owe Tabitha an apology," Rowena said to Lilith as she handed the letter back to Tabitha along with the girl's wand.

"But Professor Ravenclaw!" Lilith looked angry and mutinous.

"Tabitha was telling the truth about what was in the letter," Rowena replied. Her voice sounded toneless even to her own ears and she clenched her fist in a vain attempt to stop her hand from shaking. "She is owed an apology."

Lilith turned to Tabitha and apologised in a somewhat sulky voice.

Tabitha smirked slightly before turning to leave.

"Do you think it's really true Professor?" Lilith asked once Tabitha was out of sight.

"I don't know," Rowena replied with a shrug. "But I'm going to make my own enquiries and find out."

"What if it is?" Lilith asked.

Rowena shrugged again. What would she do if it were true? Would she accept defeat gracefully like the lady she'd always wanted to be? Or would she instead confront them and bring further scandal upon herself?

She didn't know.

* * *

"Helga!" Rowena called as she hurried into her quarters.

"Shush," Helga replied as she came into the main room from the opposite door. "She's just gone off to sleep."

"Sorry," Rowena whispered, "I didn't think."

"What is it?" Helga asked. "You look…I don't know…harassed."

"I need to go to Thebes," Rowena said. "Can you watch Helena for a little longer until I get back?"

"Thebes?" Helga repeated in surprise. This was clearly the last thing she'd been expecting to hear. "Why on Earth would you want to go there? It's ghastly this time of the year. Godric visited there years ago and he always says he'd timed it badly."

"Didn't he get arrested there?" Rowena asked, momentarily distracted.

"Yes, I think he did," Helga replied. "What was it for again? Something to do with one of the pyramids?"

"I think so."

For a few moments the two women looked at each other as they tried in vain to recall the details of that particular story. Unfortunately whilst Godric had been unexpectedly forthcoming with that story, probably due to the amount of alcohol he'd drunk, Helga and Rowena had drunk just as much and their recollections were somewhat obscured.

"I bet Salazar would remember what it was for," Rowena commented. "I seem to recall he had to bail him out of that mess."

"Don't torture yourself," Helga advised. "Try not to think about him too much…"

"How can I not when I've just found out he's in Thebes?"

"He is?" Helga asked sceptically. "Why would he be there? He hates the climate over there. Are you sure?"

"Tabitha has a letter from Cordelia and in it she said that they were in Thebes, or at least they were when it was written."

"_What_?" Helga's jaw dropped as the words registered.

"Tabitha says they got married a couple of months ago," Rowena said quietly. Saying the words aloud seemed to make it even worse.

Helga, for one of the few times in her life was completely speechless.

"I have to go there…now…to find out for sure." Rowena was at the door before she'd finished speaking.

"I know it can't be true." Helga hesitated as though she didn't want to continue speaking.

"But what if it is?" Rowena finished for her.

Helga nodded. "What will you do?"

"I don't know," Rowena replied truthfully. "I guess I'll find out when I see them. Can you watch Helena?"

"Of course," Helga replied. "But don't be gone too long if you can help it."

"I won't," Rowena promised as she hurried from the room.

* * *

Rowena arrived in Thebes, thankful that she'd at least had the presence of mind to note the address of the inn Cordelia had mentioned in her letter. She only hoped that she wasn't too late.

Despite the heat she kept up the hood of her cloak so that it covered her face. Thankfully the tavern was a popular one with the wizarding community and she didn't look out of place.

She purchased a cool drink and settled down at one of the tables that was out of the way at the back of the tavern. She had a clear view of the door but knew that she was unlikely to be noticed herself.

She had been waiting for nearly an hour before she saw them arrive. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she watched them walking through the doors. Cordelia was laughing at something and Salazar was smiling down at her adoringly. She told herself that it was the drinks she had had whilst waiting that were making her feel so dizzy as she gazed across the room at them.

She wondered whether to go across the room and confront them but she was shaking so badly she couldn't bring herself to move from her seat. She shrank back as they approached her table and for a brief agonising moment she thought that one or the other of them had spotted her there. But the moment passed and they continued on towards the stairs that lead to the guests' rooms.

She was just making up her mind to follow after them when the sounds of voices coming from the neighbouring table caught her attention.

"So that's the Slytherins, is it?" a female voice enquired. "He obviously adores his new wife, can't take his eyes off her can he?"

"Or his hands," a second, older female voice replied with a giggle. "Young love."

"Why didn't you greet them?" the first female asked curiously. "I thought you said you knew them?"

"I thought I did," a male voice said. "Or at least I knew Salazar once. We grew up together and he became best friends with my favourite cousin Godric."

Rowena drew in a sharp breath as she recognised the male voice. It was one she hadn't heard in years, the voice of Aaron Harris whose muggle grandparents owned the land that bordered the Ravenclaw farming estate. He and Godric used to visit every autumn to help with the harvest.

"Didn't you say you knew his wife?" the first female asked again.

"Well that's the strange thing," Aaron replied. "If you'd have told me Salazar would end up married to anyone but Rowena Ravenclaw I'd have called them a liar and a fool."

"Ravenclaw…Ravenclaw…isn't that the name of the family that lives near your grandparents?"

"The very same. Rowena was their daughter, still is really. But they cut her off when she ran off with Salazar. Caused quite a scandal back in the day."

"Didn't you say they'd opened a school together?" the second female enquired.

"Sure did. Hogwarts, up in Scotland. They set it up along with Godric and some friend of Rowena's. Apparently it's quite a place they have there."

"Maybe you were mistaken about them getting married," the first female commented. "Perhaps they were just close friends."

"No," Aaron replied. "There's something funny going on here. I _know_ Salazar and he loved Rowena. He'd declared his intention to marry the girl within an hour of meeting her."

Rowena frowned slightly. She hadn't known that. She remembered their first meeting very well. She'd been fifteen years old and it had been a lovely autumn day. She'd been cooped up in the house for days learning spells and charms and the sunshine had beckoned her continually. At the first opportunity she'd crept out of the house and headed outside to the orchard.

* * *

"Miss Ravenclaw!"

She could hear the voice of her maid calling from across the grounds. Her absence had been noticed all too soon. But the few moments of freedom she'd gained had left her with a thirst for more and she ignored the call that would put an end to her enjoyment.

The smell of the apple orchard drew her closer and she hurried across the grounds towards the same. The trees would shield her from sight and she knew that she could remain there for hours without anyone noticing her presence.

"Have you found her yet?" The angry voice of Adela Ravenclaw gave Rowena a moment to pause. Much as she disliked the idea of going back indoors quite so soon she liked the idea of her maid getting into trouble over her own disobedience even less.

"She slipped out while I was answering the door," the maid replied.

"It's not your fault," Adela said in a much calmer voice. Rowena breathed a sigh of relief. "Just keep looking for her. And try the orchard, that's where she disappeared to last time she vanished."

"Yes Mistress," the maid replied. Rowena looked cautiously round the tree and saw her mother was already returning to the house. Her maid on the other hand was heading straight for her so she turned and ran further into the trees at a fast sprint that she knew the other woman wouldn't be able to keep up with, even if she spotted her.

Ten minutes later Rowena was settled beneath one of the trees, an apple in one hand and her wand in the other. She was idly transfiguring things around her when she heard the sound of her maid once more.

"Crikey, she's persistent today," she muttered as she hoisted herself up into a nearby tree. Hopefully her maid wouldn't be looking upwards for her and would pass her by.

"Bugger it," she muttered as she saw that she'd torn the sleeve of her robes on one of the branches.

"Such language," a voice said from far too close. She jumped, startled and nearly fell from the tree in surprise. A strong hand grabbed her arm just in time and she clambered back into her spot on the branch.

She stared into twinkling grey eyes in a face that looked close to bursting out laughing. He had long dark hair that was tied back and was wearing muggle clothes that gave him the appearance of one of the local farm hands. She didn't recognise him though his accent seemed slightly familiar.

"Lovely afternoon, isn't it?" the boy said with a grin.

"You shouldn't be here," Rowena whispered. "Were you stealing apples?"

"Only a few," he replied. "We were hungry."

"We?"

He pointed across to where his friends were also sitting in the branches of the apple trees. She squinted slightly and she thought she recognised one of the boys. "Is that Aaron?" she asked in a whisper. The boy nodded.

"Afternoon!" called the two boys as they waved at her. "Fancy seeing you here!"

"Shush!" Rowena hissed, gesturing to the boys to keep quiet.

She knew very well they understood her frantic gesturing but they simply ignored her and howled with laughter. They suspected, probably quite accurately, that if they were all caught they would be in far less trouble than she was. The Ravenclaws were known to be rather lax about the security of the orchard and everyone in walking distance came to pick some free apples at some point in the autumn.

She pulled out her wand and sent a couple of apples soaring through the air at them, accurately aiming them so they landed with one in each mouth.

"Suits you both," the boy next to her called out.

"Be quiet," Rowena hissed.

"Surely you won't get in that much trouble?"

"Will you _please_ be quiet?"

"You're lucky I'm a wizard too, you know," the boy said instead. "Dressed as I am I could easily have been a muggle and you could have been in serious trouble for that spell."

"I know Aaron's a wizard and whoever that is with him looks too much like him not to be a relative, so he probably at least knows about us even if he isn't one himself," Rowena replied. "Doesn't take a great deal of sense to guess you all are."

"I might not have been."

"Just be quiet until she's gone."

"It was an impressive bit of spell work by the way. Very accurate."

"Just shut up will you?"

"You should be saying thank you for the compliment."

Rowena snorted and tried to shush him again.

"So what's your name?"

"Are you incapable of keeping your mouth shut?" Rowena hissed.

"I know you're a Ravenclaw but what's your first name?"

Rowena rolled her eyes in frustration. Her maid was drawing closer, she seemed to be wandering in circles, and if the boy didn't shut up she'd be caught. Her wand was still in her hand and she could easily do a silencing charm. It would be the most sensible thing to do. All right the most sensible thing would be to jump down from the tree and give herself up. But that was not even a possibility that crossed her mind until much later.

Instead the mischievous impulse that had prompted Rowena to escape through the open window put another idea into her mind.

"Have you forgotten your own name?" the boy asked with a teasing grin. It was the last thing he said before Rowena leaned forward and pressed her mouth against his.

Unfortunately whilst it did have the desired effect of keeping him quiet it had the opposite effect on his friends one of whom let out a whoop and a loud whistle that drew the attention of Rowena's maid upwards at last.

"Miss Ravenclaw!" the maid shouted. "Come down from there at once! What would your mother say if she could see you?"

Rowena pulled back from the stunned looking boy and smiled with belated shyness. He grinned back at her. "Rowena," she whispered just before she hopped down from the tree.

"Who was that boy?" her maid asked. She looked around nervously as she shepherded Rowena out of the orchard and back to the house.

"I don't know," Rowena said with a smile. "He seems quite nice though."

"What do you mean you don't know? You were kissing him!"

"He's a friend of Aaron's," Rowena replied.

"But what's his name?"

"I don't know," Rowena said again with a shrug.

"You can't go around kissing boys you don't know," her maid berated her.

"I don't think he minded," Rowena said. "He seemed to enjoy it as much as I did." She grinned at her maid's exasperated expression.

"What will your mother say?"

"I wasn't planning on telling her," Rowena said with a grin.

"Really Miss, you can't just go around kissing boys you don't even know. It's just not done!"

"I don't go around kissing all of them," Rowena replied. "This was different. I'm going to marry him one day."

"I don't think your mother will see it quite like that."

"She will see it," Rowena replied firmly. "One day she'll see me marry him, just you wait."

* * *

Rowena pushed aside the memories that had come flooding back to her upon hearing Aaron's voice telling the story of how she and Salazar had met. That day seemed so long ago now.

"Love at first sight, was it?" one of the women asked in a dreamy sort of voice.

"If it wasn't then I don't know what is," Aaron replied. "It was a full ten minutes after she'd disappeared before he stopped grinning like a loon. Then he remembered he'd forgotten to tell her who he was and crept into the Ravenclaw grounds in the middle of the night to tell her. She used to sneak out of the house every time we all had the afternoon off, they were inseparable."

"So why didn't they marry years ago?"

"Their parents, or Salazar's to be more accurate. There was some trouble on the evening he was going to ask for her hand formally…"

"Trouble?"

"A bit of a cat fight between Rowena and one of the other women present. Salazar's father took an instant dislike to the girl after that, though if you ask me he was just looking for an excuse not to welcome her into the family. He'd made no secret of his dislike for the Ravenclaws and their beliefs well before that night."

Rowena frowned a little; that was something else she hadn't known. She'd always believed that it had been her own actions that had ruined their plans. She knew that Salazar didn't blame her but she'd thought he was just saying that to make her feel better. To hear Aaron echo his sentiments somehow made her believe them at last.

"So what happened?"

"Well I don't know exactly," Aaron replied. "I wasn't at the party as I was abroad at the time, but from what I can gather there was this fight and later Salazar and Rowena were caught in some sort of compromising position and Salazar's father refused his consent anyway. So the Ravenclaws left and a couple of weeks later Salazar disappeared from the Slytherin Manor without a word and everyone said they'd eloped. Except for some reason they never actually got to the marrying part. We all lost touch over the years so I never found out the exact details."

"If you're right about all that, then it does seem rather strange that he's now married to someone else," the first woman said. "I wonder why…"

"It's quite obvious why," the second woman said. "Two months married and five months gone unless I'm very much mistaken."

"I don't know," Aaron said. "Why would he even leave Rowena? He never looked at anyone else from the day he met her."

"You don't think something could have happened to her?"

"I don't know, I think I'll send Godric and owl and see what he has to say."

Rowena drew in a sharp breath and wondered for the first time whether she should make her presence known.

The sounds of the other party getting ready to leave kept her in her seat though and she remained where she was.

"Maybe you were just mistaken," one of the women suggested.

"Or maybe there's something else going on here," Aaron replied. "The Slytherins are famous for their potions. Salazar's mother makes healing potions for the whole county, even some of the muggles buy her remedies…I think I'll drop her a line as well…his father was equally talented in that area and Salazar inherited that gift."

"You don't think that…?"

"That someone's used a love potion on him?" Aaron asked. "That's exactly what I think. The irony of it would amuse some people. To trap a famous potion maker into marriage with a potion of their own."

The voices faded to nothing as the party moved out of earshot and Rowena felt her own suspicions growing as she heard Aaron's words.

A love potion could be very powerful; she knew that from her own brief foray into that area. Could Cordelia really have used one? No, more than one, because the effects would wear off eventually. She was hopeless at potions, or so she'd claimed. Maybe she'd been lying, or maybe someone else was providing her with the potion.

Rowena didn't know for sure but the more she pondered the matter the more sure she was.

There were only two things that were stopping her from going upstairs and finding out for sure. Firstly, she didn't have an antidote with her, and secondly there was an unborn baby involved.

She needed Helga's advice before she acted. Helga was far less rash and than she was and more likely to make the right decision for everyone.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Helga, to her credit, didn't interrupt Rowena once as she explained what she had seen and what her suspicions were.

"I'll see if Lynch or Goodson are around to brew up an antidote," she said immediately that Rowena had finished speaking.

"So you think that I should go back and…?"

"Steal him back off the little cow," Helga interrupted. "Yes I ruddy well do!"

"What about the baby?"

"What about your baby asleep in the next room?" Helga retorted.

"I know." Rowena hesitated a few moments and Helga looked at her questioningly. "But if I go and steal him back aren't I doing to her what she did to me?"

"No!" Helga answered immediately. "You're not using a love potion to go about it. You're just bringing him to his senses."

"What if he doesn't want to come back?" Rowena asked quietly. It was her worst fear and the one that she was most afraid of even speaking aloud. Anything else she could bear, but she knew that the idea of Salazar choosing Cordelia over her would break her.

"You don't seriously think he would, do you?" Helga looked astounded as she shook her head at what she clearly perceived to be her friend's stupidity.

"I don't know," Rowena admitted. "If it were just me and her then I think…no I know…that he'd choose me. But she's having his baby as well. What if he chooses to stay for the child?"

"He won't," Helga assured her. "He'll choose you and Helena, I'm sure of it."

"But would that be the best choice?" Rowena asked quietly. "I have you and Godric and the rest of the staff to help me. Even some of the sixth and seventh years have offered to baby sit, though that's probably partly in the hope of getting house points. Cordelia won't have anyone helping her."

"Cordelia was useless at making potions, she can get help from whoever's been brewing up all this trouble with her."

"But do you think that Salazar would want his child to be raised by people like that?" Rowena asked.

Helga looked back at her in silence. "He wouldn't have much of a choice, would he?"

"Exactly. Even if he tried to take the baby once it was born…"

"Cordelia would demand the child back."

"If he stays with her he can at least be a good influence on the child, to counter whatever poison Cordelia is spewing."

"Would he be a good influence whilst under a love potion?" Helga asked. "I don't know of anyone who's lived under the influence of one for any length of time."

"Me neither," Rowena admitted. "Whatever way you look at it, it's not going to be easy. He's going to have a horrible decision to make and someone's going to suffer."

"I'm going to get the antidote," Helga said. "Then you're going right back to Thebes and you're going to bring him back home to us."

"Are you sure that's the right thing to do?" Rowena asked.

"Yes," Helga replied firmly. "He has the right to make the choice for himself and not have you make it for him. You think that it makes you like Cordelia to steal him back whilst she's expecting his child. It doesn't, but if you help her to take away his free will by doing nothing then you _will_ be like her."

"I didn't think of it that way," Rowena said.

"Which is why I'm here," Helga replied. "To make you see sense. Now you take Helena to Jocelyn while I get the antidote. I'll pick her up from there again once you're on your way."

* * *

Rowena arrived back in Thebes several hours later. It had taken longer to find either of the Hogwarts potions experts than they had expected; Helga and Rowena had circled the school twice over before they found either one of them. Consequentially it was full dark by the time she left the school.

It was later in Thebes and the inn was almost deserted when she stepped through the door.

She approached the bar with determination, the antidote clenched in her hand and hidden in her pocket.

"Could you tell me which room the Slytherins are staying in?" she asked as soon as the barman turned to her.

"You just missed them," he replied with an apologetic smile. "Apparated out of here earlier this evening. Bit surprised myself, they'd reserved the room until the end of the month."

"Did they say where they were going?" Rowena asked.

"No, sorry." The barman shook his head. "They received a visitor and rushed out of here right away. Some emergency at home no doubt. Perhaps you'll find them there?"

Rowena scowled. She had no idea where Cordelia lived though she knew that Godric probably did. The only thing was that she didn't believe that Cordelia would be anywhere they could find her.

"Was the visitor female?" she asked, suspecting who it was.

"Sure was. A young girl, looked like she might be related to Mrs Slytherin."

Tabitha. She'd obviously crept out of the school and given her aunt the warning that Rowena might be showing up soon. Rowena was surprised she hadn't seen Tabitha earlier but suspected that once left to their own devices Lilith and Tabitha had probably engaged in round two of their fight which would have delayed her.

"How long ago did they leave?" Rowena asked.

"Nearly an hour ago."

Rowena nodded thoughtfully and stepped outside once more.

She ducked into the alley across the road and pulled the chain that hung around her neck out from her robes. She wore it all the time now and wasn't taking any chances. The time turner would give her the time that she needed to find them before they left. It simply had to.

She turned the hourglass once, figuring that if it wasn't quite enough time she could always go back another hour as well. She didn't want to go too far back and risk running into herself.

She had barely arrived back when she felt her limbs become immobile and she fell painfully to the ground.

"I can't say I'm surprised to see you here," Tabitha said as she stepped into her line of sight. "Though I must admit I didn't expect to see you here just yet, I rather thought I saw you only a few minutes ago heading towards the dungeons."

Rowena tried to throw off the curse but was having no success at all.

"I'd wonder how you got here so fast but I rather think that I already know," Tabitha continued as she crouched down beside her and took away her wand. "My aunt was rather curious as to how you could be teaching two posts at once all the time she was applying for the Ancient Runes position. She was furious at being refused the post each year and just couldn't figure it out. So once he became more _amenable_ to her questioning she asked Salazar…or should I say Uncle Sal?…and he told her all about a little device he'd discovered called a time turner."

Rowena continued to struggle to no avail as she mentally cursed both Cordelia and her niece.

"He described it quite carefully and I see that he was very accurate about it." She reached out her hand and tore the time turner from its chain. "I think I'll take this and return it to its rightful owner," Tabitha continued with a sly smile. "He may even give it to me as a gift for my help today, if I ask him nicely."

Rowena swore silently to herself. Tabitha was going to be so expelled before this night was over.

Almost as if she was reading her thoughts Tabitha smiled again. "Oh and I don't think I'll be coming back to Hogwarts for the rest of the year. I don't believe there's anything else that you and the rest of the staff can teach me. I rather think I've graduated beyond whatever you have planned in your lessons."

Rowena glared at her, or at least she tried to. Perhaps something showed in her eyes, if not her features, and Tabitha recoiled slightly at what she saw.

"Now what else do we have here?" she asked after she'd recovered herself. She dug around in Rowena's pocket and pulled out her hand that was still clenched around the vial containing the antidote. "An antidote?" she asked, before answering her own question with a light laugh. "But of course it is. Pity it won't do you any good." She pulled out the stopper and watched as the contents drained to the floor, soaked up instantly by the hot sand. "All gone, and so will we be. And I wouldn't try searching for us again…we know how to stay hidden."

With that Tabitha turned to walk away towards the inn, leaving Rowena to continue to struggle against the curse. She paused at the end of the alley and turned back momentarily. "So much for the Great Rowena Ravenclaw."

Rowena struggled against the curse which was the most powerful she'd ever been subjected to but knew that she would never break free in time. She knew the second that Tabitha and the others had apparated out of the area and she felt the curse lift instantly.

Knowing it was useless Rowena still hurried into the inn, only to be told once again that she had just missed the Slytherin party leaving. She swore loudly, eliciting a look of shocked horror from the barman.

"You wouldn't be Rowena would you?" he asked as she turned to leave.

"Yes," Rowena replied with a frown.

"I have a message for you," the barman said as he rummaged around beneath the counter. "Here you go."

Rowena took it from his outstretched hand and looked at the handwriting. Her heart sank when she saw that it wasn't Salazar's script on the parchment. For a few brief seconds she had dared to hope that he had somehow managed to overcome the potion and had left her the message telling her where they were going. Instead what she saw was Cordelia's handwriting and she knew she wouldn't like what she found within.

She opened it anyway; there was just one unsigned sentence. _Perhaps I'll send him back to you when I've grown bored of him._

She swore again, this time earning a mere shake of the head from the barman.

There was little else she could do, other than return to Hogwarts and speak with Godric.

* * *

"Deserted," Rowena confirmed once she'd returned from the last known address of Cordelia Disdel. She'd also tried Tabitha's home address but there was no sign of anyone at that address either. She'd enquired with the neighbours which had resulted in her travelling to other locations but it seemed that the entire family was aware of the search and were hiding far away.

"You've found him once, you'll find him again," Helga assured her.

It was the early hours of the morning and Rowena had been apparating up and down the country to one address after another as she followed up on various leads.

"They have to turn up sooner or later," Godric agreed. "They may contact us for a refund of Tabitha's fees for the year."

"Do you really think they're that desperate for money?" Rowena asked. "With the Slytherin fortune they can afford to throw away a year of school fees if they want to."

"Maybe they'll enrol the baby here when the time comes?" Helga suggested. "She might think that after all that time you'll have forgotten him."

"Well if she does, she'd be wrong," Rowena snapped.

"Only time will tell if she is confident enough, or stupid enough, to get in touch with us," Godric said. "In the meantime I'll write to everyone I know again, this time telling them to look out for Cordelia as well as Salazar."

"Thank you," Rowena replied, though she didn't hold out any hope that this time the enquiries would bring about the results that she was hoping for.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

_Eleven Years Later_

"Is that her?"

Rowena turned at the sound of a whispered voice to try to find the speaker. Unfortunately there were so many first years in the hall, most of which were chattering, that she couldn't tell who it was that had asked the question.

She knew whom the question was about though.

Helena stood beside the rest of the students, her head held high and proud. After living at the school for eleven years she was finally joining the ranks of students and would soon be sorted into one of the houses.

As the illegitimate daughter of two of the founders she was a novelty and Rowena knew that several of the older students had been accepting wagers on which house Helena would be sorted into.

She knew Helena was worried about where she would be placed. She'd been practising her spells and charms under her own watchful supervision for several years, determined that the Sorting Hat would find her intelligent enough to be put into Ravenclaw.

She had hoped that the worries would have abated now that the Sorting was almost upon them but a tug on her sleeve told her otherwise.

"I don't want to be in Slytherin," Helena whispered to Rowena as the rest of the students filed past them and into the Great Hall. It was a statement she'd made repeatedly, and with more and more fear during the last summer.

"There's nothing wrong with Slytherin House," Rowena told her, not for the first time. "Your father would hate to think of you being afraid of being placed in his own house."

"How do you know?" Helena snapped. "It's not like he's here to give his opinion."

"He'd be here if he could," Rowena assured her as the last of the students entered the hall.

"He's never here so why should today be any different?" Helena sounded sulky and Rowena guided her to sit down on the stairs. "He's missed all my birthdays and all the holidays. I don't even know what he looks like."

"I've told you what he looks like many times; you know I'd show you a portrait of him if I had one," Rowena replied as she sat down beside her. From the Great Hall came the sound of the Sorting Hat singing its now annual song.

"But _why_ isn't he here?" Helena asked again.

"It's complicated."

"You _always_ say that and you _never_ explain why he left."

Rowena sighed. Helena was right. She'd put off telling her daughter about the whole sorry mess for years. At first it had been too painful for her to talk about. Then she told herself that Helena was too young to understand. She was running out of excuses and knew that the day would soon come when she had to tell her the truth, or risk her finding out the details from someone else.

"The Sorting has started," Rowena said. "We'd better go inside or you'll miss it."

"Are you ever going to tell me where he is?" Helena asked as she stood up and walked slowly towards the hall.

"I don't know where he is," Rowena replied in a quiet voice. "But I will tell you what happened. I promise."

* * *

Rowena took her seat at the table and tried to ignore Godric's look of reproach at her tardiness.

"I was talking to Helena," she whispered.

"She's still worried about what house she's going to be sorted into?" Godric whispered back.

"Partly, and she wants to know where her father is."

"You haven't told her yet?" Godric asked in a louder whisper that earned him a look of reproach from Helga who was about to place the Hat on the next student.

Rowena shook her head at Godric who shook his head in annoyance. "She'll find out from someone else if you don't tell her soon."

"I know," Rowena replied. "And no doubt those stories will have a few little details missing from them, and even more embellishments as well."

Helga turned round to shush them again, much to the hilarity of the student body. This time Rowena and Godric remained quiet so that the ceremony could continue without interruption.

"Ravenclaw, Helena," Helga called out, much as she had done with the rest of the students. The only difference was that this time there was no need for her to look over the group to see who was stepping forward.

Helena walked to the front as the whispers of the students grew louder. Helga didn't even try to shush them.

Rowena watched as her daughter sat straight backed and proud on the stool. Helga placed the hat on her head and waited. Rowena crossed her fingers, hoping that her daughter would be placed in her own house. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with any of the others, but she had been privately hoping for the same result as Helena herself. She knew her daughter was intelligent and had already mastered charms and spells that Rowena herself hadn't managed until she was thirteen. If they were still sorting the students into houses themselves then she wouldn't hesitate to take Helena into Ravenclaw house. Unfortunately the Hat didn't always place the students where the founders predicted. Siblings were separated or kept together with no real consistency and there were no guarantees as to what the Hat would see when it took a close look at the child wearing it.

"Not Slytherin," she heard Helena muttering as she sat on the stool. She could see that some of the students at the Slytherin table could hear her as well. Not only that they were looking at her with unconcealed hostility at her words. She hoped even more that Helena would not be placed in that house. If she were, she knew that trouble would soon follow.

Finally the Hat seemed to come to its decision and shouted out "Ravenclaw!" Rowena breathed a huge sigh of relief as Helena proudly walked to the Ravenclaw table and took her seat with the other students there. She clapped loudly with the rest of the school and grinned at her daughter as she turned to give her a wave.

The Sorting concluded a short while later and Helga took her seat at the staff table. "Just once," she asked. "Just once could we get through the Sorting Ceremony without the whispers and running commentary from the staff table?"

* * *

"Is it true?" Helena asked as she paced her mother's office a few days later. "Did my father marry someone else?"

Rowena swore under her breath. She'd found out far sooner than she'd anticipated and the conversation she'd been dreading was now unavoidable.

"Yes," Rowena replied. "Please sit down so I can explain. I can't talk to you whilst you're wearing a groove in the floor like that."

"You never told me!" Helena accused as she continued to pace. "Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't he want me?"

"He did want you," Rowena assured her. "He wanted you more than anything. He even chose your name. It isn't his fault."

"Then why did he leave us?" Helena asked with a sob as she finally sank down into one of the chairs.

"He didn't have a choice," Rowena said. "He…er…it was…"

"What?" Helena asked between sniffles.

Rowena took a breath to steady herself and finally told her daughter exactly what had happened all those years ago. When she had finished she waited for Helena to say something, anything, in response.

"Did you try to find him?" Helena finally asked.

"Of course I did. We all did."

"When did you last look for him?"

"I'm always looking for him," Rowena replied sadly. "Every time I see a man with long black hair I look a second time to see if it's him; every time I hear a voice with his accent I turn around to check. I've never stopped looking for him and I never will."

"Do you think he'll ever come back to us?" Helena asked quietly.

"Yes, I do." Rowena's reply was instantaneous and took Helena by surprise.

"Why are you so sure?"

"Because I _have_ to believe that he'll come back. If I don't then I'll…" Her voice trailed off, she didn't want to admit, even to herself, that she knew she'd fall apart completely if she ever lost faith that one day Salazar would return to her.

"Is that why you didn't marry Professor Lynch when he asked you last year?" Helena asked.

"You shouldn't listen at doors," Rowena chided. "Though yes, your father is the reason I refused his offer."

"I didn't like Professor Lynch much anyway," Helena commented. "He was always ordering me out of the dungeons."

"I should think so," Rowena replied. "You shouldn't have been down there at all."

"Are you why Professor Lynch left?"

"Probably partly," Rowena admitted. "Also he was passed over for the Potions position again and he's wanted that ever since he joined us."

"So why didn't you just give him the job?" Helena asked.

"Because he's the only person we could find who could teach Arithmancy to the level we want our students to learn. His replacement is adequate but Professor Lynch was far better. Potions professors are far more easy to replace."

"I hope the new one's good," Helena commented.

"She was top of her class," Rowena confirmed. "And don't you give her any trouble either, she used to baby sit you for me and doesn't deserve any cheek from you."

"I don't remember her," Helena admitted with a frown as she tried to recall the face of the teacher who Godric had indicated was the new Potions professor. The memory was hazy; she'd not been taking much notice, though she knew she'd look closer when she had her first lesson with her the following day.

"That's because she graduated just before your first birthday," Rowena told her. "Now you really should be getting back to the rest of the students. It's almost time for dinner."

Helena nodded and stood up to leave.

Rowena on the other hand remained in her office for some time, missing the meal entirely.

She knew that Rhys had thought her a fool for refusing his proposal. No one else seemed to believe that Salazar would ever return. Helga tried to boost her spirits with words of support but as the years had passed they'd taken to avoiding the subject altogether. Even Godric had long since lost hope that his best friend would return. Only she still had faith that he'd one day come back.

* * *

"Professor Ravenclaw?"

Rowena looked up from the essay she was marking. "You're not a student any longer, you can call me Rowena," she said with a smile.

"It's habit," Lilith replied as she came further into the room. "It seems so strange."

"You'll get used to it," Rowena assured her. "Probably quicker than you think, I seem to recall you sometimes called me Rowena even when you _were_ a student. It's being called Professor yourself that you'll never get used to. I still sometimes look around expecting to see someone else in the room when someone greets me that way unexpectedly."

Lilith laughed and sat down in the chair that Rowena gestured her to.

"I'm sorry to bother you," she began, wringing her hands together worriedly.

"It's about Helena, isn't it?" Rowena asked, knowing the answer already. In the three months since the start of term Helena had been the topic of nearly every conversation that began with a hesitant colleague poking a head round the door of her office.

"She's…er…"

"Being a little madam," Rowena suggested. "I know. I've been expecting her to have her years of rebellion but not quite so soon."

"She decided to take on one of the third year boys in a duel this evening."

"She what?" Rowena was stunned and jumped up from her seat. "Is she all right? She's not hurt, is she?"

"No, she's fine," Lilith hurried to calm her fears. "But the boy she fought is in the hospital wing with a nose bleed that won't stop. I stopped the duel but she's refusing to do a detention or tell me what it was all about."

"Sounds like someone else I know," Rowena said with a smirk.

"That's why I thought she might speak to you instead of me," Lilith said. "You have a way of getting information out of people when they're determined to keep quiet."

"I do?" Rowena asked in surprise. "I rather recall it was your friend Agnes who talked you round at the time."

"Details, details." Lilith waved away the words as though they were of no concern. "You're her mother, you can talk to her, find out what it was all about."

"Tell her she's serving her detention for duelling with me and I'll see what I can get out of her."

* * *

Helena arrived for her detention promptly, if sulkily.

"So what do you want me to do?" she asked. "Clean out the mice again?"

Rowena looked at the cages that did look as though they could do with a thorough going over. "Maybe later, without magic," she agreed. "But first of all you're going to tell me why you were duelling with that boy."

"He called me a name I didn't like," Helena replied. "I don't know what it meant exactly but it was obviously horrible as everyone was laughing."

Rowena had a sneaking suspicion that she could take a fair guess at what the name was, but refrained from saying so. She'd had to suffer being called many names herself over the years and had known that the day would come when her daughter would find herself on the receiving end too. She was actually surprised it hadn't come sooner.

"It isn't too late to enrol you in Beauxbatons if you'd prefer," Rowena suggested. "They're still a very small academy but they'd be happy to have you there."

"No," Helena replied immediately. "I want to stay here."

"Then you'll have to put up with a few names without resorting to duelling every time someone says something to you that you don't like."

Helena nodded quietly. "I'll start on the mice shall I?"

"Without magic," Rowena repeated. Helena screwed up her nose but laid her wand down on Rowena's desk.

"Mother?" Helena asked a few minutes later as she cleaned the cages.

"Hmm?"

"What's a diadem?"

"It's a type of tiara," Rowena replied. "Why do you ask?"

"One of the fifth year girls said you have one with magical powers and I wondered what it was."

"Well I have one, it was a gift from your grandmother, though I've never been entirely sure about the magical powers."

"Was it from Grandmother Slytherin?" Helena asked. "The one I'm named after?"

"That's right," Rowena replied. "It belonged to her mother and her grandmother. She never had a daughter to pass it on to, so she gave it to me."

"What sort of powers is it supposed to have?"

"It's supposed to give the person wearing it wisdom," Rowena replied with a shrug. "Though it never gave me the wisdom that I wanted."

"What do you mean?"

"I wore it for days, months even, as I tried to think of something I hadn't yet tried in order to find your father. But it never helped me much."

"Or at all?" Helena pointed out.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Rowena replied.

"So it _did_ give you wisdom?"

"It reminded me of happier times, of how much your father and your grandmother loved me, and when I wore it, it made me feel somehow closer to them."

"But you haven't worn it recently?"

"No, not recently," Rowena said. "After a while, I only ever wore it when I needed to feel close to them. Besides, it doesn't really go with any of my every day robes."

"Can I see it?" Helena asked. "I'll like to see something that belonged to my grandmother."

"Maybe later, when you've finished cleaning out the mice," Rowena said. "You're not going to distract me out of your detention. Your father had similar habits and I learned to recognise them long ago."

Helena grinned and turned back to the cages. Rowena shook her head with a smile and settled down at her desk for the duration. Sometimes she was surprised at how like Salazar their daughter was. She only wished that he would some day see her himself.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Helga and Rowena arrived at Godric's office in response to his summons only to find that he was rushing out.

"It's on my desk," Godric called back to them as he hurried away from his office. "I'll be back soon, got a bit of a problem with a Giant Squid."

Helga rolled her eyes though both she and Rowena had to admit that Godric had had more success in taming the creature than either of them had believed possible.

"I think this must be it," Rowena said as she picked up the student admission application from Godric's desk. The parchment unrolled and trailed down until it almost hit the floor.

"_That's_ an application?" Helga asked.

"Listen to this," Rowena said as she read the parchment. "We are to ensure that the little darling isn't subjected to sleeping on a straw pallet, he must have bedding stuffed with goose feathers."

"He'll have the same as everyone else and like it," Helga muttered.

"Apparently the straw makes him itch. And we must ensure he's in bed by eight o'clock every night."

"That should be a good trick, since when do any of the students stay in bed all night like they're supposed to?"

"And when do his parents think he'll learn Astronomy?" Rowena replied with laugh. "Oh and there's a sheet listing his dietary requirements." She saw the same, still on the table and passed it to Helga.

"Well Godric should be pleased, he has to have pumpkin juice every day and, listen to this, we are to ensure that he is never given alcohol of any description."

Rowena laughed. "Well the first years generally do stay away from the village tavern, or do they think we take them down there for the evening meals?"

"Maybe," Helga replied.

"We're also to ensure that he doesn't go swimming in the lake or take part in the unnecessarily violent game of Quidditch."

"Wilbur won't like that," Helga muttered. "The teams are really coming into their own now and he likes all students to try out for their houses."

"This list is ridiculous," Rowena said when she finally reached the end of it. "No wonder Godric thought we should see it."

"I say we write back advising that there are no places left for next year," Helga joked just before Godric walked back through the door. "The house elves will have fits when they see this menu."

"They'll probably go on strike," Rowena replied. "He sounds like more trouble than any other student we've got."

"That's the wrong application you're looking at," Godric said as he saw the parchment Rowena had just placed back on the desk. "Though since you've obviously seen it I should mention that the young Baron's parents have already forwarded his fees for all seven years with his application, along with a substantial donation to the school itself."

"Can't you send it back?" Rowena asked.

"We can't really afford to," Helga pointed out. "The donations are what enables us to educate those students who can't afford the fees."

"Exactly," Godric agreed. "But as I was saying, _this_ application is the one I thought you should see." He picked up another sheet of parchment from the desk and passed it across to Rowena.

"Salazar and Cordelia Slytherin hereby submit their application for their eldest son…" Rowena hesitated as she read the parchment and sank into the nearest chair. "Their _eldest_ son," she repeated.

"Do we accept the application?" Helga asked quietly. "I know I've always said that anyone should be able to attend Hogwarts, but…"

"I think we should accept it," Rowena said immediately. "What's the return address?"

"There isn't one," Godric replied. "It simply says to send our reply back with their family owl who knows the way."

"But we'll have to have an address on our records for them if we accept him," Rowena pointed out.

"They…or at least I suspect Cordelia…has said they won't disclose their address due to security reasons."

Rowena and Helga snorted in synchronisation.

"She's asked that during term time one of their family owls remains on the premises in order for them to be contacted in case of an emergency."

"It's highly unorthodox," Helga commented with a frown.

"She's thought things through very thoroughly," Godric pointed to the application that Rowena was still reading.

"Accept it," Rowena said as she passed the application to Helga's impatient hands. "Maybe she'll slip up some day and we can finally track them down."

Godric nodded. It was a very small chance, but it was the only one they had.

* * *

"Which one do you think he is?" Godric whispered as the Sorting took place the following autumn. "There are a couple of dark haired boys that look like they could be him."

"It's the fair haired boy standing near the back," Rowena whispered.

"How can you tell?"

"He has his father's eyes."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I'd recognise them anywhere."

"Just once, could you be quiet just once!" Helga snapped as she turned to face the staff bench. "If the students can stay quiet I'm sure the staff can."

"Sorry," the two culprits mumbled their annual apologies.

"Harrington, Edward," Helga called out.

"You forgot the Baron," the small boy piped up as she waved him towards the stool.

Rowena snorted slightly at Helga's expression of bemusement, earning her another glare.

"Slytherin," the Hat shouted and the boy wandered towards the loudly cheering students at the appropriate table.

A short while later and the S's were reached and Salazar Slytherin, Junior took his place on the stool. After the briefest hesitation from the Hat it cried out 'Slytherin' and he proudly took his place at the table too.

Rowena looked at the Ravenclaw table and saw Helena looking with open curiosity at her half brother. She wondered if the boy knew who she was already, and if not, how long it would be before he found out.

* * *

Rowena and the other founders soon realised that getting information out of young Salazar was like trying to get blood from a stone…without magical aid.

Each day Rowena tried to find the time to ask after his parents but received answers of one syllable and nothing that gave her any clue as to where his family was living.

It was a couple of months into the term when the boy sought her out on his own and passed her a letter.

"What's this?" Rowena asked curiously. She drew in a sharp breath as she recognised the handwriting as being that of his mother.

"I happened to mention to my mother that you'd been asking after her health and that of my father and she sent this for you with her most recent letter," Salazar replied.

Rowena flushed as she read the contents of the letter. She muttered a spell under her breath that caused the parchment to burst into flames.

"Impressive," Salazar said. "I take it you won't be asking after my family any more?"

"You can return to your quarters now," Rowena said coldly.

All hope of getting any leads from their new pupil had vanished. Rowena looked sadly after the boy who could so easily have been her own son. He had his father's eyes but in every other way was far more like his mother. She shivered slightly at the thought and hoped she'd have better luck with his younger brother when he became a student.

* * *

"Are we going to go travelling in the summer?" the sixteen year old Helena asked as she kicked her legs against the cupboard she was perched upon. "Hannah says her parents are going to take her to see the Pyramids."

Rowena sighed with barely concealed frustration.

"I'd like to see the Pyramids and go down the Nile," Helena continued. "It sounds exciting and fun and I _hate_ being stuck here all summer."

"You're not stuck here all the time," Rowena pointed out. "You know we always go visiting for several weeks during the summer. I thought you enjoyed visiting with Helga and Godric's families? And they love having you stay."

"I do, but I want to see the Pyramids. Hannah's been there twice already and she says they're really impressive. She says she's been to loads of other places too."

"If Hannah's been to half the places she claims to have been I'll eat my hat," Rowena replied. "There aren't that many weeks in the summer holidays to have done everything she says she has each autumn she comes back."

"But Hannah says…" Helena continued as she continued to idly kick her feet at the cupboard door.

Rowena tuned out the familiar complaints as she continued to sort various items out of the cupboards ready for the next morning's lesson.

"Why don't you go find something to do with your friends," Rowena suggested a few minutes later. "You could go riding with Calliope. You haven't been riding in months."

"I don't feel like it."

"Well how about you go and hang out by the lake with the rest of your year. It's silly to be sitting around inside on a lovely day like this."

"I don't want to."

"Why ever not?"

"Slytherin will be down there with his little gang and you said I wasn't allowed to settle my problems with duelling."

"You're still not getting along with him?"

"I tried but he's a complete creep. He's always talking about how rich they are at home and how much they travel around the world."

"I don't suppose he mentioned where they're going this summer?" Rowena asked, despite herself.

"Of course not. He'll just tell us all about it when he comes back next term. Everyone gets to go everywhere except me."

"I'm sure that's not true."

"But can't we go somewhere exciting and expensive _this _summer?" Helena asked again. "It'll be unbearable next term with his brother here as well. One of them is bad enough but two…"

"So that's what this is all about," Rowena replied. "You really shouldn't judge people before you meet them. You don't know that Nicholas is going to be anything like his brother."

"I'll bet he is. They'll both be going on and on about how wonderful their lives are, gloating about how my father doesn't even want to know me and…"

"Did Salazar say that?" Rowena asked. "Never mind, it doesn't matter. It's not true and I'm sure he's only saying it because he knows it upsets you."

"That's what Edward keeps saying," Helena muttered.

"Well try listening to _him_ if you aren't going to listen to me. Where is he today anyway?"

"I don't know, I gave him the slip this morning."

"Really Helena." Rowena sighed and shook her head at her daughter's stubbornness. "You could at least give him a chance."

"He's always following me around like an over-excited puppy," Helena complained.

"That's because he likes you," Rowena replied though considering how her daughter had been treating the young suitor she was amazed that he had bothered to keep up his persistent attempted courtship.

"He can barely manage spells that I was doing three years ago," said Helena contemptuously.

"Well he hasn't had the advantages you've had," Rowena pointed out. "You get to practice all the time here at Hogwarts and he has other things he has to do during the holidays."

"Like lots of interesting parties and exciting tournaments." Helena sounded wistful as she spoke.

"Well you could have gone to all of those last summer, you were invited after all."

Helena remained silent at the obvious but unwelcome logic.

"I really don't see why you won't at least give him a chance. He went to the Yule Ball last year on his own after you turned him down."

"Well I was on my own as well," Helena replied. "And it didn't stop him hovering around me all night."

"You could at least have danced with him once."

"I told him I'd hurt my ankle."

"I know," Rowena looked at her sternly. "It wasn't very nice to lie to him like that either."

"So you said at the time."

Rowena looked at her daughter in disappointment. She wondered why it seemed that everything she said to her went in one ear and straight out the other. She'd done her best but it seemed that nothing could make an impression on the stubborn girl. She sometimes wondered if the girl had any real friends at all amongst the rest of the students. Helena certainly didn't seem to have a close friendship with anyone like she had with Helga.

Proud and stubborn was not a good combination for any young girl if she wanted to get along with the rest of the school. But unfortunately that was exactly what Helena was.

She'd frequently found herself seeking the advice of Jocelyn but the other woman had jokingly said that when worst came to worst with her own brood of children the threat of 'what would your father say?' usually worked. Rowena wished she had that option.

* * *

"He's a ruddy menace!" Helga exclaimed as she paced the staff common room. "Trampled right through the vegetable patch and ruined the whole crop."

"You should see the state of the potions classroom," Lilith said. "Two cauldrons destroyed in as many lessons and I don't think anything will remove the stains from the floor."

"He knocked a spy glass off the top of the Astronomy tower!"

"Three of my crystal balls smashed to pieces and tea stains all over my best armchair!" Rowena looked at Professor Plunkett and smiled to herself. Things must have been bad indeed to get her to join the rest of the staff for their meeting. Or maybe it was just a random coincidence that she'd arrived in the room on time for the impromptu discussion.

"Got himself bitten by a Cornish Pixie too," Godric added. "Though don't ask me how since they were all locked up at the time."

"Crashed into the goal posts as well."

"Iris needs all her potions restocked just because of him."

Rowena shook her head at the complaints that were coming in thick and fast about the eleven year old Nicholas Slytherin.

"I'll never understand how he got put in my house," Helga said. "Why isn't he in Slytherin like his brother?"

"You were quite pleased at the time," Godric pointed out with a smirk.

"That was _before_ he ruined my entire pumpkin crop!"

"All of them?" Rowena asked. "Don't we have any left for the All Hallows Feast?"

"Not one," Helga confirmed. "I'd give him a detention but I have a horrible feeling that whatever I gave him to do it'd cause more work for us."

"At least he has a more pleasant disposition than his brother," Rowena pointed out. "He knows how to open doors for ladies and has decent manners."

"Depends on what manners you're talking about," Godric snickered. "His table manners leave something to be desired. He spat pumpkin juice all over the table on the first morning."

"Well so did half the other first years," Rowena pointed out. "I don't know why you insist on serving it. Most of the students don't like it."

"Is it too late to send him back home again?" Lilith asked in despair. "I don't think the potions classroom will make it to the end of the year with him in my lessons."

The sound of a knock at the door brought the discussion to an abrupt halt.

"Professor Hufflepuff?" a small blonde head popped around the door.

"Yes?" Helga asked. "What is it Amy?"

"It's Nicholas, Professor," the girl said. "He went up the girls' staircase by mistake. He thinks his ankle's broken."

Helga rushed to the door to go as Rowena and the others shook their heads in disbelief.

"Maybe he was adopted?" Godric suggested with a sigh.

* * *

Two years later and Nicholas hadn't improved a great deal in either his potions lessons or his personal clumsiness.

He was as unlike his brother as night was from day.

Rowena sometimes found him sitting alone in an empty classroom and quickly discovered that he was far more approachable than his brother was. Unfortunately he was as equally secretive about where he lived as the rest of the family. Rowena was very sure that in the case of Nicholas it was more through fear than anything else and she resolved not to push things, hoping that if she gained his confidence then eventually he'd open up to her on his own.

She wished that Helena got along better with him but for some reason her daughter was no more willing to try to befriend the young boy than she had been to befriend anyone else in all her years at the school.

At first Rowena had put it down to her being in her final year of study and the young first year being beneath her notice. But she was disappointed to notice that Helena didn't change her attitude once she'd completed her education and gave her half brother no more of her attention than she ever had.

Rowena privately wondered whether her answer to Helena's latest request would have been any different had the girl shown more consideration for the younger members of the school.

"But why not?" Helena asked. "I'm far better at Charms than any of the other applicants who've asked for the job."

"That's not the point," Rowena replied. "You don't have any teaching experience and…"

"And what?" Helena prompted.

Rowena hesitated unsure how to put her thoughts into words without incurring the wrath of her daughter's temper. "I really don't think you'd enjoy teaching," she finally said.

"You think I'm not good enough to teach," Helena snapped.

"It's not that," Rowena assured her. "Maybe in a few years time…"

"You just don't want there to be another Professor Ravenclaw here!"

"Don't be silly."

"It's true. Everyone always says how wonderful a teacher you are. Lilith goes on about how you were always her favourite teacher and all the students come to you whenever they have any problems."

"That's not true at all," Rowena argued. "They come to me if they're in Ravenclaw but the rest go to their own heads of house."

"Edward always goes to you with his problems," Helena retorted.

"Well that's only because his problems usually have something to do with you," Rowena pointed out with a sigh of impatience.

"You're letting him stay on here," Helena muttered in a sulky tone. "And he's a year younger than me. He only finished school a fortnight ago."

"He's not teaching though, he's just helping out all the teachers so he can decide whether teaching is what he wants to do."

"So why can't I do that?" Helena asked.

"Nothing's stopping you doing that but you're asking for the post of Charms Professor which is entirely different."

"I bet my father would let me have the post," Helena said as she glared at Rowena.

"Well he's not here, as you've pointed out to me so frequently in the past," Rowena snapped back. "If you want to start teaching the children here then the first thing you should learn to do is stop acting like a child yourself."

Helena looked mutinous as she stormed from the room and Rowena wondered whether it would have been easier simply to give her the job.

But she knew, as she had when Helena had first brought up the idea, that it would be completely unfair to the other applicants and to the students to give the job to her daughter when she simply wasn't the best person for the position.

* * *

"What do you mean you can't find her?" Rowena asked. "She has to be around here somewhere."

Clover looked up at her and shrugged. "Miss Ravenclaw not in Hogwarts," she said again. Rowena waved her hand in dismissal and the house elf disappeared with a pop.

"Maybe she's in Hogsmeade?" Edward suggested. "Would you like me to walk down to the village and check?"

"Would you?" Rowena asked but Edward was already pulling on his cloak.

"I'll be back soon," he promised as he swept out the room.

"She can't have gone far," Helga pointed out as Godric nodded in agreement.

"I seem to recall we've had similar conversations before," Rowena said quietly. "And I have that same bad feeling now that I had then. And since she's perfectly capable of apparating anywhere she likes she _can_ have 'gone far'!"

"I doubt anyone's put her under a love potion and whipped her away," Godric pointed out. "Edward's still here anyway."

"That's not funny!" Rowena snapped. "I'm going to check her rooms again."

Five minutes later Rowena was back in Helena's rooms. They adjoined her own and were as familiar to her as her own. She could see that there was nothing out of place and nothing that was giving her any sort of clue as to where her daughter might be. Everything was neat and tidy and…Rowena stopped suddenly as she realised just _how_ neat and tidy everything was. Far too neat for the daughter who was normally as messy and disorganised as she herself was.

She rushed to the bedchamber and saw what she had missed before. The dressing table was no longer littered with cosmetics and ribbons. She opened the drawer that the items would normally be over flowing from but it was empty. The wardrobe door stood ajar and Rowena opened it cautiously. It was empty.

She sat down heavily on the bed as she tried to think of anywhere Helena might have gone. It wasn't easy; there were so many places her daughter had expressed the wish to visit. She could have run away to any one of them.

Helga and Edward found her later that evening, still sitting on Helena's bed.

"She's gone," Rowena said in a dull voice. "Not even a note of goodbye."

"She's taken all her things?" Helga asked. "Does she have any money though?"

"I don't know, she usually just asks me for some when she wants something," Rowena replied. "I'll check my room."

Helga followed behind her as she slipped through the adjoining door into her own quarters. Edward remained hovering in the doorway, seemingly unsure of what he should do.

Rowena pulled open the chest at the end of her bed to check whether anything was missing.

"I don't know whether to hope she's taken enough to live on or whether to hope she's forgotten funds so she'll return that much more quickly," Rowena said as she rifled through her things.

"Is anything missing?" Helga asked.

Rowena shrugged. "I can't tell," she admitted. "It's a long time since I sorted out this chest."

"I can see that," Helga replied. "How can you find anything in there?"

"I usually don't," Rowena replied with a shrug. "I think there's a few galleons missing but I can't tell for sure."

"I don't see your diadem in there," Helga said as she crouched down on the floor beside Rowena.

"You're right," Rowena said as she shifted things aside. "I'd have given it to her on her own wedding day anyway though."

"Maybe it'll give her the wisdom to come back?" Helga suggested quietly.

"I guess she'll come back in her own time," Rowena said with a shrug. "Had anyone in Hogsmeade seen her?" she asked Edward.

"No one," he replied. "I checked the tavern and Madam Addison's house. She hasn't been seen there all day."

"She must have apparated right from the school gates," Rowena said.

"There was something else though," Edward said hesitantly.

"Yes?" Helga asked. "What is it?"

"There was a wizard from down south in the tavern who said something that Augustus said I should report back to you tonight. He said you'd want to know."

"What would we want to know?" Rowena asked, curious despite the events of the evening.

"The wizard was telling everyone about a duel he'd witnessed last month. He said that Salazar Slytherin, the founder's father…he said he'd been killed."

Rowena didn't know what to say. After all, it made no difference now.

"Thank you," Helga said as she got to her feet with a groan. "Let's go and find Godric and tell him the news. I think Rowena needs a little time on her own."

Edward nodded and turned to leave. If anything he looked even more downhearted than Rowena felt. She had a suspicion that he'd only stayed on at the school to be near to Helena and now his dreams had been crushed just as her own had been all those years ago.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The rest of the summer passed slowly for Rowena as she found herself watching the gates for her daughter's return, just as she had for Salazar's. All too soon though the end of the holidays were approaching once more.

"Come on Rowena, Jocelyn's going to be wondering where we've got to," Helga called back along the path to where Rowena was standing motionless in the early evening light.

"What's the matter?" Lilith asked as she too turned back to see what was keeping their colleague.

"I thought I…" Rowena's voice trailed off as she looked towards the overgrown bushes lining the path to the Hogwarts gates.

"Thought you what?" Helga asked.

"That you'd stand and catch flies for a while?" Lilith joked.

"It's nothing," Rowena replied with a shake of her head. "Come on, or the party will start without us."

"Considering how long you took to get ready, it probably already has," pointed out Helga with a laugh. Thankfully Jocelyn was well aware of how tardy Rowena could be and would understand if they were a few minutes late to her and Augustus's anniversary party.

Rowena glanced back towards the bushes as they continued down the path. She knew it was impossible and that it was probably her imagination playing tricks on her, it wouldn't be the first time, but for a moment she'd thought she'd felt the familiar sensation of someone's mind brushing her own.

She tried to push the feeling aside but it lingered with her for the rest of the evening. It wasn't as unsettling as others might have thought it to be. It was familiar, comfortable even, like a favourite cloak or muff that had been stored away for the summer.

Helga, picking up on her mood, looked at her questioningly several times throughout the evening. Rowena simply shook her head and smiled. She knew that she was being silly and knew that even if she tried to explain, Helga wouldn't understand. She hadn't really understood when Rowena had told her about Legilimency all those years ago and when Salazar had tried to demonstrate the practice for her she'd recoiled immediately from the intrusion of another's mind in her own. She had never understood how Rowena had welcomed the closeness so willingly.

Rowena's thoughts were still drifting back to pleasanter times when they returned from the party. As they approached the Hogwarts gates she looked around once more, but the grounds and the path were deserted again and this time she couldn't feel a presence at all.

She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, suddenly chilled despite the warmth of the summer night.

"Are you all right?" Helga asked with concern as her friend quickened her pace.

"Just a little cold," Rowena replied. "I'll turn in for the evening, it's been a bit of a strange night."

They entered the castle that in a little over a week's time would be filled once more with students. Lilith departed for her own chambers and Rowena made her way towards the stairs that would take her to her familiar quarters at the base of Ravenclaw tower. She wasn't surprised to see that Helga was following after her instead of taking the stairs to her own basement rooms.

"What did you see out there tonight?" Helga asked in a whisper. "Was there someone there?"

"I didn't see anyone," Rowena confirmed truthfully.

"Are you sure?"

"Not unless they were invisible," Rowena amended. "It was just my imagination playing tricks on me."

"So you _did_ think there was someone there?" Helga pressed on. "Did you hear them?"

"No," Rowena admitted cautiously. "I just thought I felt someone."

"You mean someone brushed against you, in an invisibility cloak or something?"

"Not exactly. I thought I felt someone…in my head."

"You mean like Legilimency?"

"Yes, exactly like that. I thought I felt someone, but it could have been someone far away if they were powerful enough."

"That's creepy," Helga muttered.

"It's all right," Rowena shook her head. "It didn't feel bad or anything, it felt…I don't know…right."

"Sometimes I don't think you know how creepy _you_ sound when you say things like that," Helga replied with a small smile. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Rowena nodded as she approached the door to her rooms. "Goodnight," she said as she opened the door and watched as Helga wished her pleasant dreams and descended down the stairs once more.

The room was in darkness once Rowena had closed the door behind her and she pulled out her wand to light the candles that hung from the chandelier. Suddenly the room was bathed in light and she let out a small involuntary scream at what she saw.

"I must admit that wasn't the reception I was expecting. Though at least you're not throwing anything at me."

Rowena's breath caught in her throat as she looked at Salazar stretched out in the armchair before the empty fireplace; her cat was curled up on his lap and he lazily stroked its back as it purred contentedly.

"Why were you sitting here in the dark?" Rowena asked, mentally cursing herself even as she spoke for asking such a positively ridiculous question at such a time.

"Only you could ask such a ridiculous question," Salazar replied with the faintest trace of a smile.

"Are you reading my thoughts? That was you earlier when I went out through the gates, wasn't it?"

"Yes, that was me earlier. I saw you leaving from the window here. I'd just missed you. But no I'm not reading your thoughts right now, they're written on your face like they always were. You haven't changed a bit."

"Liar," Rowena replied as she sat down in the chair opposite him. She looked at him with blatant curiosity. It had been so many years since she'd last seen him she had sometimes wondered if she would even recognise him again were their paths to cross. She knew now that she shouldn't have worried, he was older, a little thinner, and there was a sprinkling of grey in his hair. But for the most part he hadn't changed at all. The years had been good to him, though she wondered whether he would honestly think the same about her.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask, so many things she wanted to know, but somehow, now the time had finally come, she seemed to have lost the nerve to ask any of them.

"Aren't you going to ask why I left you?" Salazar finally asked. "Or why I'm back now?"

Rowena shook her head. She knew why he'd left, she'd known for years. Since she knew that, it was rather obvious why he was now back.

"You don't care," Salazar commented sadly, clearly having formed his own conclusions in response to her silence. "I can't say I blame you. I just wanted to apologise and…"

"And what?" Rowena asked.

"I just wanted to see you again," Salazar replied with a faint shrug that disturbed the cat who jumped from his knee at the movement. "Ah, deserting me too are you?" he commented as the cat ran for the door.

"She just likes to go out and prowl around the school at night," Rowena said as she got up and opened the door to let the anxious kitty out.

"I should leave," said Salazar, standing up and picking up his cloak as he spoke. He wouldn't look her in the eye and Rowena felt a spark of her old fiery temper return at what Cordelia had done to them. "I shouldn't have come back."

"If you think for one moment I'm letting you out of my sight again, you're very much mistaken," Rowena declared as she stood with her arms folded across her chest, barring the door.

"I guess the temptation was just too much to keep me anyway," Salazar said as though she hadn't spoken. "But could I see Helena before I leave? Just for a moment or two?"

"She's not here," Rowena replied. "She's away." She hoped he wouldn't ask where or for how long.

"I'm sorry, for everything."

"For crying out loud, just stop apologising!" Rowena snapped. "Do you think I don't know what happened or something? Do you think I'd not realised what that little…what _she'd_ done…as soon as I heard you'd married her?"

"How much _do_ you know?" Salazar asked curiously as he sat back down.

"Let me see," Rowena replied with undisguised venom. "Amongst other things she ensnared you with a nice little love potion and disappeared goodness knows where. Oh and left me a nice little note saying she might send you back to me if she grew bored."

"She did?" Salazar asked. "I mean about the note. She really did that?"

"She left it for me in Thebes when I nearly caught up with you both. I guess it's too much to hope she's sent you back to me?" Rowena asked with a wry smile.

"I've crept out whilst she's visiting her mother for a couple of days," Salazar replied. "She thinks I'm still under the influence of the potion so won't suspect I'm anywhere but where she told me to stay."

"Like a well behaved puppy," Rowena sneered. "So how is it you're _not_ still under the influence?"

"We can both thank Nicholas for that," Salazar said with a smile. "Cordelia-"

"Don't say her name!" Rowena snapped. "Please."

"Sorry. She was never much of a potions brewer and my beloved father was the one providing her with a steady supply of them all these years."

"We heard he'd died," Rowena commented. "I'd say I'm sorry but I'm really not."

"Me neither," Salazar muttered. "Anyway, in all these years she'd never bothered to learn how to brew the thing herself so when the supply was running low she asked Nicholas to make it for her. She didn't tell him what it was, just gave him my father's recipe and left him to it."

"He recognised it?" Rowena interrupted with surprise. "He could make it without setting the place on fire?"

"He only suspected what it was at first but when he saw her slip it into my drink he realised and at the first opportunity he brewed up a quick antidote for me."

"He what? And last year he was practically failing Potions," Rowena mused.

"Well I think you'll find that's because he really doesn't like the subject," Salazar laughed. "She's had him brewing potion after potion in the basement lab for years. Before she started getting him to brew this one she already had him brewing her beauty potions and goodness knows what else. It's not that he doesn't know how to make them, he just dislikes them thoroughly and doesn't bother to try."

"That explains a bit," Rowena replied.

"Well, back to the antidote. Nicholas had no idea how long I'd been under the influence and it came as quite a shock to him to find out. But luckily for us, unlike his older brother, he's far more my son than his mother's and has been conspiring with me to help us find a way out of this mess."

"I'm thinking poison," Rowena suggested with a vicious smile. "Something that's very potent and even more painful."

"Unfortunately it's not just her we have to worry about. Her whole family has been in on this right from the start. If anything happens to her, or if I leave her for you, they'll destroy both of us and anyone who gets in their way."

"You mean Godric, Helga and the rest of the school?"

"They'll burn it to the ground if they have to."

"You can't go back to her!"

"For the moment I have to," Salazar replied. "There's Nicholas to think about as well. I don't know what she'd do to him if she found out he'd brought me back to my senses. I don't even want to think about it."

"So go fetch him and bring him back here."

"She'd demand him back, she's his mother and he's only thirteen years old. She'd know what he's done and I don't want to put him through the trauma of getting on her wrong side. Not if there's a better way."

"And you have a better way?" Rowena asked sceptically. There was no reason she could think of for why he couldn't just stay with her now that he had finally returned.

"One that will take more courage than the bravest of Godric's Gryffindors and will require you to trust me like you've never had to before. In a couple of months this will all be over, I promise."

Rowena looked at Salazar in silence for several minutes. He was gazing back at her so intently she began to feel uncomfortable and began to pace nervously around the room.

Did she still trust him? Had anyone else asked her whether she trusted him she'd have always said yes without hesitation. But something about the way he had said it made his own doubts start creeping into her mind.

"You need time to think," Salazar suggested as though that was exactly what he'd have expected.

"No I don't," Rowena replied as she turned back to him. "If you say you have a plan I believe you. If you say everything will be all right, I know that it will. If you say you need me to trust you, then I'll trust you with my life. If you…"

"If I say shut up, come sit on my lap and kiss me, will you?" Salazar interrupted with a familiar smirk.

"Well I don't know about that," replied Rowena even as she crossed the room to comply with his request.

"Minx!" Salazar teased as he pulled her towards him. "Have you put on weight?"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that you should never tease a woman about her weight?" Rowena asked as she gave him a harsh poke in the ribs.

"I think you might have mentioned it that time I commented on you having four helpings of apple pie."

"You know, I could change my mind," Rowena teased. "I'll have you know I get four or five marriage proposals every year."

"You're going to marry me," Salazar assured her firmly.

"You're already married," Rowena pointed out. "Unless you take me up on the poison suggestion."

"We're not poisoning anyone."

"Awww."

"Since when did you become so bloodthirsty?"

"Since the day I saw you fawning all over the little slut in Thebes," Rowena muttered. "It gave me nightmares for years."

"I'm sorry."

"Gah, would you just stop apologising?"

"Well how about you tell me what I can do to make it up to you?" Salazar suggested instead.

"How long is it until you have to go?" Rowena asked with a frown.

"She won't return until tomorrow night but I'll have to leave before morning light in case I'm seen. No one else can know I'm here. Not if my plan's going to work."

"Not even Godric and Helga?" Rowena asked in surprise. "They'd want to help."

"No one, not even them. We don't need their help and if this is going to work they can't know. The fewer people who know the better."

"So are you going to tell me this wonderful plan of yours?"

"Well I could tell you all about it right now but I can think of far more pleasurable ways of spending the rest of the night." Salazar smirked.

"You're trying to avoid telling me your plan, aren't you?" Rowena asked with a suspicious frown. "I'm not going to like it am I?"

"You always could read me far too well," Salazar sighed. "Do you remember our first Christmas here at Hogwarts?"

Rowena nodded as Salazar continued.

"We had that little cottage created by the Come and Go room all to ourselves and talked about how one day it would be real. Do you remember what you said?"

"Whatever it takes." Rowena whispered her eyes watering slightly as she remembered.

"It's going to take more than we ever thought," Salazar replied as he held her closer. "Do you still want that cottage? Do you still want me?"

"Whatever it takes," Rowena repeated. "Whatever it takes."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Rowena woke the next morning and stretched lazily. "It's nearly dawn," she said as she looked out the window.

"I should have left a while ago," Salazar replied from where he sat beside her. "I didn't want to wake you and I didn't want to leave without saying goodbye."

"Can you try to visit again?" Rowena asked even though she knew what the answer was going to be.

"It's too risky," Salazar replied with a shake of his head. "I shouldn't even have stayed as long as I have."

"And you're sure this plan will work?" she questioned.

"If we want a life together without fear of what the Disdels and the remaining Slytherins will do…"

"I know," Rowena said sadly. "We don't want them hounding us for the rest of our lives."

"If you change your mind at any time just let Nicholas know once he returns for the new term."

"Won't that get you both into trouble?" Rowena asked.

"No, we have it all figured out. We've decided that if you want to call things off then he'll end his letters with a postscript about his horse. Nothing unusual about that and his mother won't suspect anything if she happens to see the letter."

"Sneaky," Rowena grinned.

"It's one of my greatest talents," Salazar said with a grin of his own. "Now I really have to leave. Just one last thing before I go. Try to practice looking less dreamy before you see anyone today."

"What?" Rowena asked with a puzzled frown.

"Rowena, how many times have I told you? Every thought you have is shown on your face. If you go and greet Helga looking like you do now, she'll know immediately what sort of a night you've had."

Rowena flushed and Salazar laughed. "You haven't changed a bit," he said before kissing her quickly. "Now I _really_ have to leave."

Rowena nodded sadly and a moment later Salazar was gone. She stood at the window and watched him hurrying across the grounds and through the gates. He turned on the path and looked back towards her window. She smiled as she felt his mind brush against hers briefly before he disappeared from sight.

* * *

"I need you to try to find Helena," Rowena said quietly to Edward after she'd finally tracked him down.

"But I've no idea where she is," he pointed out. "I wish I did."

"She must have talked about somewhere she'd like to visit," Rowena suggested.

"Where _didn't _she talk about wanting to visit?" Edward replied with a frustrated sigh. "I'd have taken her anywhere she wanted to go if she'd just asked."

"I know you would. But was there anywhere in particular she spoke of?"

"Not really," Edward replied.

"Are you sure?" Rowena asked desperately. "There's nowhere at all she spoke of more often than anywhere else, or that she spoke of most recently before she left?"

Edward frowned. "Maybe…"

"Please try to find her," Rowena asked again. "Bring her home, please."

"You said she'd return in her own time," Edward pointed out. "Why not just wait for her here?"

"I need her to come home now," Rowena whispered. "I can't leave myself, the new term starts next week."

"What makes you think she'd come back with me?" Edward asked bitterly. "She barely acknowledged me when she was here."

"I know she was a little stubborn and blind at times…"

"A _little_ stubborn?" Edward repeated. "She…she…." He faltered as words failed him and he swore.

Rowena smiled slightly before she schooled her face into a more sympathetic expression. The pampered yet sweet young boy who'd arrived at Hogwarts had become a fine young man and she couldn't understand why her daughter had persistently failed to see it.

"Can you try to find her?" Rowena asked. "For me?"

Edward sighed as he looked across at her and nodded. "I still don't think she'll listen to me…she never did."

"Well tell her I'm ill or something," Rowena suggested. "Tell her I'm dying if you have to."

"You don't think she might notice when she returns to find that you're not on your deathbed?" Edward asked with a trace of a smile.

"Well make something else up then?" Rowena said with a roll of her eyes. "You were in Slytherin house, the house where all the resourceful children are placed, surely you can think of _something_ to convince her to come back here?"

"I suppose I could always kidnap her," Edward suggested and Rowena laughed in response.

"I would rather hope it doesn't come to that," she said. "Just try to get her to come home and quickly."

"That's if I can find her at all," Edward pointed out. "You know how hard it is to find someone if they don't want to be found."

"Helena is wilful and stubborn, but she also likes attention," Rowena said quietly. "She won't have hidden herself too carefully; she'll want someone to find her."

Edward nodded and returned her smile. "I won't return without her," he said.

"Thank you."

Edward nodded and gave her a formal bow before he left the room to gather his things for the journey.

* * *

Rowena wondered what it was that had woken her in the early hours of the morning on the first night of the new term. Her room was in complete darkness and she looked about to see if her cat was the culprit. The animal was nowhere in sight though and she turned over to go back to sleep. The sound of a quiet knock at the door had her jumping from her bed a moment later as she pulled on her dressing gown and rushed to see what the emergency was.

"Professor Ravenclaw?" a small voice whispered. "Can I come in?"

"Nicholas?" Rowena asked sleepily as she struggled to see who it was in the darkness. "What are you doing wandering around the school at this hour?"

"Can I come in?" he asked again.

"Of course," Rowena said as she pulled the door wider to let the nervous boy inside.

She closed the door and lit the candles in the room, directing Nicholas to one of the seats.

"What's the problem?" she asked anxiously. "Is it your father? Has something happened to him?"

"No, he's fine," Nicholas assured her before continuing in a voice that was more of a mumble than anything else. "He sends his love."

Rowena smiled at both Salazar's message and the boy's embarrassment at having to deliver it.

"It's just I need your help with something," Nicholas continued on hurriedly.

"What is it?" Rowena asked. "I'll help if I can."

"Well father said that there was a room that turned into whatever you wanted it to and he told me where it was but…I've been searching for hours and I can't find it. He said you knew where it was."

"The Come and Go room," Rowena confirmed with a nod. "It's up on the seventh floor."

"I've been wandering around the floor for hours and I just can't find it." Nicholas sounded tearful as he looked across at her. "I wouldn't bother you but I really _need_ to find the room."

"It's all right," Rowena said as she patted him on the arm. "Come along and I'll show you where it is."

A few minutes later Rowena stood in the seventh floor corridor with Nicholas beside her.

"The room appears here," she whispered quietly, hoping no one else was wandering this particular area of the school tonight. She was grateful that most students confined their midnight wanderings to the routes that took them from their dormitories to the kitchens and that the corridor they were now standing in was on none of those routes.

"But how does it appear?" Nicholas asked.

"Just pace back and forth around here and it'll appear," Rowena replied with a shrug. "I've never been sure exactly how it works, it just does. You need to make sure that you're concentrating hard on what you want it to be as well. It doesn't always work like you want it to though."

"What do you mean?" Nicholas asked.

"Well it can't materialise food or anything like that and sometimes it doesn't give you what you want it to. I tried using the room to find your father and just kept getting a room with dozens and dozens of maps of the world in it. You won't know how it will work for you until you try it."

Nicholas nodded and began his pacing. A moment or two later a door materialised in the stone wall and he gasped in awe.

"Well aren't you going to take a look inside?"

Nicholas moved cautiously towards the door and opened it.

"Is it what you were expecting?" Rowena asked curiously.

"It's perfect," Nicholas said with a smile as he stepped into the room. Rowena followed behind him and looked around.

"Why not just use one of the classrooms downstairs?" she asked curiously as she saw what the Come and Go room had become for Nicholas.

"Because it's going to take a while and we don't want anyone else to know what I'm doing," Nicholas replied as though the answer was rather obvious. Rowena smiled at his words and tone that were so reminiscent of his father.

Nicholas moved to the nearest desk and pulled various assorted items from the pockets of his robes. Rowena could see that he had every intention of starting work right then and shook her head at the thought.

"I'm sure that it can wait until tomorrow," she said after he'd finished emptying his pockets. "You're going to get little enough sleep as it is tonight."

"Father said to start right away," Nicholas said.

"Well your father isn't here right now and as your teacher _I'm_ telling you to get back to bed."

"Father said you wouldn't mind my working at night," Nicholas argued. "He said you'd understand and want me to start work right away too."

"Not if it means you being up all night," Rowena replied. "Now get back to bed before I give you a detention."

"You wouldn't," Nicholas said, though he didn't sound very sure of his conviction.

"If your father has told you anything about me at all, I'm sure he'll have mentioned how stubborn I am," Rowena pointed out. She wasn't surprised to see Nicholas nod.

"Bed!" she repeated as she pointed towards the door.

Nicholas turned away from the desk reluctantly but finally moved towards the door.

Unsure as to whether he would simply double back to the Come and Go room as soon as she left him, Rowena decided to escort Nicholas right back to the Hufflepuff common room.

"Oh and Nicholas," she called quietly after him as he made his way towards the staircase leading to the boys' dormitories. He turned around at her voice and looked questioningly at her. "Try not to destroy too many of our cauldrons in your lessons this year. We've had to double our Potions budget since you came here already."

"I didn't mean to," Nicholas replied. "I was just experimenting."

"So I figured out after your father told me what you were capable of," Rowena replied with a grin. "Just try to limit the destruction."

Nicholas nodded and disappeared up the stairs with a final grin.

Rowena stepped back into the corridor and ducked into the kitchen for a snack before returning to her own rooms.

* * *

Every day Rowena expected one or another of the teachers to mention that they'd caught Nicholas during his night time wanderings around the school. Thankfully for him, Nicholas was far more careful about his nocturnal activities than the rest of the students and as the weeks passed without his being apprehended Rowena began to relax.

"You're looking a little pale," Helga commented over breakfast one morning as she looked at Rowena with worry.

"I've just been cooped up indoors too much the last few weeks," she replied, brushing away her friend's concerns with a bright smile.

"Are you sure?" Helga asked. "Maybe you should ask Iris to look you over?"

"There's no need to bother her," Rowena assured her. "Not with the present batch of first years giving her so much work to do."

"They do seem to be the most accident prone year yet," Helga agreed, even as one of the said students tripped over something on his way to the Ravenclaw table.

Rowena giggled slightly as the student picked himself up from the floor and took his seat with a grin of self-mockery as his friends laughed.

"I can't believe Godric wants to add muggle duelling to the school curriculum," Helga muttered.

"They'll be losing limbs and eyes within days if he does," Rowena replied. "Looks like someone wants to see you," she added as a sixth year Hufflepuff student who had entered the Great Hall a few moments before approached the staff bench.

"Professor Hufflepuff, there's someone in the Entrance Hall asking for you," the student said. "One of the parents."

"I'll be right there," Helga said as she quickly finished her juice and crammed a roll of bread into her pocket for later.

* * *

"You!" Helga exclaimed, her wand in her hand before she knew even realised she'd pulled it from her robes.

In all the years that her sons had been attending Hogwarts Cordelia herself had never set foot inside the school. The boys had always been delivered to the gates with another relative and she had never attended any of the parents' evenings or school functions that welcomed the parents of the students.

"I've come to take Nicholas home," Cordelia said coldly. "He has a funeral to attend."

Helga didn't lower her wand. "How dare you show your face here?" she spat. "Where's Salazar?"

"Are you going to hold my son hostage until I produce him for you?" Cordelia asked with a spiteful smile.

"If necessary," Helga replied.

"Then you're in for a long wait," Cordelia replied. "It's his father's funeral that I'm fetching him home for."

Belatedly Helga noticed that Cordelia was dressed head to toe in black with a thick veil on her hat that was momentarily pinned back.

"Salazar's funeral?" Helga asked, unsure whether to believe what she was hearing. "He can't be dead, he just can't."

"You haven't seen him for some years and his health has been deteriorating for some time now," Cordelia replied. "Not that it's any of your concern. Now fetch Nicholas so I can take him home with me. I'll see he's returned once the funeral is over and done with."

Helga didn't know whether to believe her or not. Cordelia had been a talented liar during her time at the school. Neither she nor Godric had known her for what she was. Only Rowena and Salazar had not been taken in by her act and they were the ones who had suffered the most for it.

"Well are you going to fetch him?" Cordelia snapped impatiently.

"What's going on here?" Rowena asked as she came through the door of the Great Hall herself.

Helga watched as Rowena paled even more at the sight of Cordelia standing in the Entrance Hall.

"Rowena, go and fetch Nicholas from the Great Hall," Helga asked. "He was eating breakfast in there a few minutes ago."

Rowena ignored her and immediately pulled out her own wand and advanced on Cordelia.

"Rowena, please just get Nicholas," Helga repeated.

"No!" Rowena replied. "I've waited too long for this moment and if she think she's walking out of her alive then she's sadly mistaken."

"Take your best shot," Cordelia said coldly. "If you'd like Nicholas to be burying _both_ his parents."

Helga watched speechless as Rowena crumpled to the floor.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Rowena woke up a short while later in the hospital wing.

"What happened?" she asked Iris who was hovering around her bed with a concerned expression on her face.

"You fainted," she replied. "Hardly surprising in the circumstances."

"I didn't? Did I?" Rowena asked, a dim memory of being hit with a spell from behind surfaced as she tried to recall what had happened in the Entrance Hall.

"Erm…" Iris began hesitantly. She looked around the room as though afraid of being overheard even though the room was entirely empty of students and staff.

"What is it?" Rowena asked as she sat up and rubbed the back of her head. She'd have a bruise the size of a duck egg on the back of her head from where she'd hit the floor unless she was very much mistaken.

"Helga said she was worried about you even before you fainted," Iris said as she fiddled with the flowers on the bedside table. "She asked if I could look you over, especially considering you fainting like that."

"Have you told anyone?" Rowena asked quietly. "Helga? Anyone?"

"No," Iris replied. She seemed slightly offended at the suggestion. "I wasn't even sure you knew yourself."

"I recognised the signs from last time," Rowena confirmed. "You're sure no one else knows?"

"I haven't told a soul," Iris assured her. "But…well…I have to admit to wondering…er…"

"Who the father is?" Rowena supplied. "Salazar of course."

"I'm so sorry dear," the older woman said with a sob. "This must be so painful for you. I didn't even know you'd found him again and…"

Rowena pulled out her wand discreetly as Iris began to babble somewhat incoherently. "I'm sorry," she said as she pointed her wand at Iris. "Obliviate!"

"What was I saying?" Iris asked a moment later after the confusion on her face had cleared. "I guess I was away with the pixies for a moment there."

"You were just saying that there's nothing physically wrong with me at all and it must have been the shock at the dreadful news that caused me to faint." Rowena gave a small sniff as she held her handkerchief to her face and dabbed at her eyes.

"Of course," Iris said. "I must say I'm a little shocked myself."

"I think I'd rather go rest in my own rooms though," Rowena said. "I'll take things easy for a few days until the shock's worn off."

"Yes, dear," Iris agreed. "You do that."

Rowena slipped her wand back into her robes and muttered a silent apology to Iris for taking away her most recent memories.

* * *

It was a week after Nicholas had returned to Hogwarts that Edward's letter arrived reporting the news that he'd at last found a trace of Helena. He believed that he was closing in on her whereabouts and would hopefully write again soon to confirm they were on their way home.

She breathed a sigh of relief as she read the letter. She hoped that they would return before she started to show. She knew that as the months passed, there was only so much she would be able to hide behind the loose fitting robes and she knew that Helga would notice eventually. She hated the idea of modifying her best friend's memory more than anything else but if that was what it would take she knew that she would do it. The only problem was that once it became obvious to everyone that she was pregnant no amount of memory spells would be able to keep it a secret.

All she could do was hope that Edward succeeded in finding Helena and brought her home before that time came.

"Well that's good news, isn't it?" Helga said as she read the letter and passed it back to Rowena. "They'll be back home again in no time at all."

Rowena nodded. "I hope so."

"Have you told Edward about Salazar?" Helga asked hesitantly. "Do you think he'll tell Helena?"

"I want to tell her myself," Rowena replied, looking away as she spoke.

* * *

A few nights later and Rowena found herself pacing the corridor outside the Come and Go room. No door was materialising for her though and she realised it was because Nicholas was already inside and had taken the precaution of ensuring that no one would be able to find him.

She tried banging on the wall but it appeared that the room was entirely sound proof too.

Finally, just as the light of dawn was appearing through the windows the room opened and Nicholas crept out of the newly materialised door.

He gasped in shock at seeing Rowena waiting for him. She realised that her guess had been right and that he _had_ been avoiding her since his return to Hogwarts.

"Are you all right?" she asked as she steered him back into the room. "Did everything go all right?"

Nicholas nodded.

"And your mother?" she asked.

"I didn't see much of her," Nicholas replied. "She spent most of her time with the Malfoys. I think I may have a new stepfather before next Yuletide."

"I was wondering…" Rowena hesitated. "The day your mother collected you, was it you who stupefied me in the Entrance Hall?"

"Er…" Nicholas looked guiltily at his feet. "You _were _going to attack my mother and…"

"It would have been far more fitting for me to be fainting at the news than hexing your mother into the middle of next week?" Rowena finished for him. "You really shouldn't go around stupefying teachers though."

"How many points this time?" Nicholas asked. "Hufflepuff are already way behind in the points thanks to my giving the Giant Squid food poisoning earlier this week. I guess a few more won't make any difference."

"Hmm, fifty points?" Rowena suggested.

"Fifty?" Nicholas looked aghast. "My father says you're fair but that'll put us so far behind the rest of the houses we'll never catch up."

"Who said anything about taking them off you?" Rowena said with a wink. "That was a pretty impressive spell you did. Knocked me out for nearly an hour in fact. And it did stop me doing something that I'd probably have regretted later. No, I think fifty points to Hufflepuff is perfectly justified."

"Wow! I've never earned fifty points at once before!"

"If we added up all the points you've earned since you came here I don't think you'll find you've earned fifty points," Rowena replied with a smirk. "Now you better get back to your quarters before the rest of your friends wake up and notice you're missing."

"They know I'm an early riser," Nicholas said with a shrug. "They won't think it's strange if I'm not there when they wake."

"You didn't get that habit from your father," Rowena replied with a laugh. "So just out of curiosity when _are_ you sleeping these days?"

"In Muggle Studies and Divination."

Rowena laughed again and shook her head. "Now that _does _sound like your father," she said with a smile.

* * *

"Peeves!" Rowena yelled as she stood in the Ravenclaw common room with her hands on her hips. "I know you're here so you better show yourself right now or I'll spend the rest of my life figuring out a way to get rid of you!"

"I don't think it was Peeves," whispered one of the first years who'd ran to wake her in the middle of the night.

"Well he's the only spirit in the school so it really can't be anything else you saw," Rowena said. "I think he's gone now, you'd better get back to your beds before he returns."

Rowena turned back towards her own rooms. It was the second night running she'd found herself running around the school. The previous night it had been an emergency in one of the Astronomy classes, and now this. She was starting to wonder if she'd ever get a decent night's sleep again.

She opened the door to her chambers and yawned as she made her way towards her bed once more.

She didn't notice the silvery glow in the corner of her room until she heard a familiar voice.

"Mother?"

Rowena turned with a bright smile on her face. "Helena?" she said. Then she saw her daughter and for the second time that month she fell to the ground unconscious.

* * *

"I told you not to scare her like that!" The chiding voice drifted towards Rowena as she regained consciousness.

"Well it's not like there's an easy way to break it to her," Helena snapped in response.

"What were you doing in the tower anyway?"

Rowena frowned as she tried to make out the identity of the owner of the second voice, realising even through the fuzziness in her head that it was Edward.

"I don't see it's got anything to do with you where I go?" Helena snapped.

"I think she's coming round."

"Mother?"

Rowena raised her hand gingerly to her head as she opened her eyes completely. Helena was hovering before her, shimmering and glowing silvery in the moonlight. Edward was floating nearby, in a similar non-corporeal form.

"What happened?" she asked as she looked at the two ghosts.

"You fainted," Helena replied.

"Really?" Rowena asked sarcastically. "I hadn't noticed. I was referring to why you both appear to be firstly dead and secondly ghosts. Why haven't you moved on?"

"It's his fault," Helena said with a glare at Edward.

"I didn't stop you moving on," Edward pointed out with a glare of his own. "You didn't have to stick around as a ghost. _You_ made that choice yourself."

"You might not have stopped me moving on but it's still all your fault! You're just a violent brute!"

"And you're a spoilt little brat!"

"Stop it, the pair of you!" Rowena interrupted as she got to her feet. "Would one of you just tell me what happened? Were you attacked by bandits or something?"

"Hardly!" Helena replied with a sneer. "I was set upon by the good Baron here. A fine suitor you picked for me mother!"

"What?" Rowena looked askance at Edward who looked guilty and contrite. "Is that true?" she asked him.

"I lost my temper," Edward replied. "She wouldn't come home, not even when I told her you were dying and she said…it doesn't matter…I lost my temper and betrayed your trust. I know you can never forgive me."

"You don't look like you're dying," Helena commented as she took a closer look at her mother.

"Don't you think that's rather beside the point?" Rowena asked as she flushed guiltily herself. "Carry on Edward."

"I lost my temper," Edward repeated. "What more can I say? I took the life of your daughter in my anger. I am more sorry than you can imagine."

"And your life?" Rowena asked as she gestured to the bloodstains on his clothes.

"The coward took his own," Helena sneered. "After stabbing me he turned the dagger on himself."

"I didn't do it out of cowardice," Edward snapped. "I…"

Rowena watched as Edward bowed his head. She knew that ghosts couldn't cry but knew that if they could then Edward surely would be weeping right now.

"Why didn't you move on?" Rowena asked Helena. "Why would you choose this existence?"

"He said you were dying," Helena said.

"You're telling me that you didn't move on because you wanted to see me again?"

"She's lying," Edward interrupted. "She was scared to move on through fear of punishment for stealing from you."

"That's not true," Helena muttered though Rowena could recognise the lie for what it was.

"I'd have given you the diadem if you'd only asked," Rowena told her sadly. "I'd have given it to you when you married anyway."

"I'm sorry," Helena said, her head bowed.

"What about you Edward?" Rowena asked turning to him. "Why didn't you move on?"

"I do not deserve to," he said quietly. He gestured to the chains he was carrying. "I will spend eternity paying for my sins."

"Good!" Helena snapped.

"However many times I must apologise, I will," Edward said quietly.

"I don't want you to apologise," Helena hissed. "I want you to stay far away from me…forever."

"As you wish," he replied with a bow. "Professor Ravenclaw, my apologies again."

Rowena nodded dumbly as Edward drifted through the wall leaving her alone with the ghost of her daughter.

"You can't just let him stay here," Helena said in disgust.

"He's a ghost and this was his home for the last seven years," Rowena pointed out. "I have no control over where he chooses to haunt."

"Well make him go haunt his family estate down south."

"I'll do no such thing," Rowena snapped. "The castle is big enough for the two of you, I'm sure."

"Mother, it's not fair!"

"It's been a long night," Rowena said tiredly. "I'm going to get some sleep. I still need sleep even if you don't. I'll speak with you tomorrow."

Helena looked as though she would like to argue but finally drifted off through the door that led to her own chambers.

Rowena got into bed but sleep wouldn't come. How could everything have gone so completely wrong?


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Hogwarts was soon buzzing with the news of the two ghosts who were now haunting the building.

At first it was not unusual to come across the two ghosts arguing and yelling in the empty classrooms, the corridors and anywhere else they happened to be when their paths crossed. It eventually got to the stage where they were sometimes even more disruptive to the lessons than Peeves was when he was at his most annoying.

After a week or two however they became quieter and were less likely to be found shouting and screaming at each other. The Baron, as he was soon being referred to by the students, began spending all of his time in the Slytherin quarters whilst Helena took to hovering around the library and Ravenclaw Tower.

Rowena had spoken to both of them at length about what had happened but there was nothing she could do to help either of them. She hoped that in time the anger and bitterness would subside and that they would finally learn to peacefully co-exist.

Rowena had also told Helena about her father although the planned reunion she'd hoped for was now out of the question.

She wished with all her heart that things could have been different but was realistic enough to know that there was nothing she could do to change the past.

* * *

"Are you going riding Professor Ravenclaw?" Calliope asked as Rowena entered the stables. "Would you like me to saddle one of the mares for you?"

"That's all right," Rowena replied. "I'm just looking for somewhere quiet to pass the morning."

"The stables are a popular place for that," Calliope replied with a grin. Rowena looked at her curiously and she nodded towards a stall towards the back. Rowena followed her gaze and wandered in that direction.

"Hiding?" Rowena asked as she saw Nicholas sitting on one of the bales of hay, various pieces of paper scattered around him.

"Not really," he replied with a shrug. "Is she gone?"

"Calliope?" Rowena asked.

Nicholas nodded and Rowena peered around the end of the stall to confirm that Calliope had indeed disappeared outside.

"Good," Nicholas said and he pulled out from beneath the parchments a letter Rowena immediately recognised as a howler.

"You seem to have had that a while," Rowena commented as she saw the parchment starting to smoke.

"It came early this morning," Nicholas confirmed. "It's from my grandparents again."

"Well you might as well get it over with," Rowena said. "Would you like me to leave?"

"No, that's all right," Nicholas said. "I'm sure you know what they're like."

"I've never met them," Rowena admitted. Privately she added to herself that if they were anything like their daughter then she wouldn't want to.

Nicholas opened the howler which screamed through the stables, startling the horses that were still inside. Rowena hurried to the nearest one to calm it down and finally the howler finished it's yelling and the horses were calmed once more.

"I guess this wasn't the best place to open it," Nicholas muttered.

"Perhaps not," Rowena agreed.

"Why did I get stuck with such awful grandparents?" Nicholas asked as they settled back down on the bales.

"They weren't all bad," Rowena told him. "You'd have liked your Grandma Slytherin."

"I never knew her," Nicholas said. "I asked about her once. Mother said she'd had an accident, though she made it sound like it wasn't."

Rowena drew in a sharp breath. She'd expected as much from the moment Helga had told her about Katelyn's death but to have it practically confirmed by the grandson she'd never known was still something of a shock.

"She was very kind and when she found out she was going to be a grandmother she was delighted," Rowena told him with a smile. "She'd have loved you very much."

"What are your parents like?" Nicholas asked curiously.

"Well they're not as bad as the Disdels sound but I wouldn't say they're perfect. I've not seen them in over twenty years."

"Why not?"

"It's a long story." Rowena sighed.

"Oh." Nicholas sounded disappointed but turned back to his parchments without asking anything further.

"They didn't approve of your father," Rowena finally said. "They made me choose between him and them."

Nicholas looked up, surprised. "That must have been a hard decision," he said after a few minutes of thought.

"No," Rowena replied with a shake of her head. "It was the easiest decision I'd ever had to make."

* * *

"She's going to miss breakfast entirely if she doesn't come down soon," Godric commented.

Helga shook her head. "She's been in a strange mood for weeks," she said. "I've tried talking to her but since Salazar…she's changed…she's shut me out like she never has before. I think that a part of her has died too."

"It's lack of closure," Godric said sadly. "If only they'd let her go to the funeral."

"I still can't believe they wouldn't let any of us attend," Helga complained. "You'd been friends with Salazar since you were children."

"Well it's too late now," Godric pointed out. "I thought perhaps I'd visit the Slytherin Crypt in the holidays and pay my respects. I'll take Rowena with me if she wants to go too."

"That's a good idea," Helga agreed. "I'd better go and see if she's awake or else she'll miss her first lesson as well as breakfast."

* * *

Helga pushed open the door to Rowena's chambers and called out for her to wake up.

"Come on sleepy head, time to wake up!" she called as she pulled back the fleece that Rowena had burrowed under.

She wasn't making any effort to rise.

"Rowena! Come on, move yourself!" Helga ordered as she gave her a prod. "Rowena?"

Her friend wasn't moving so Helga prodded her again. "Rowena?" she asked in a small voice that now had an edge of panic to it. There was still no response.

She rushed from the room and saw two of the sleepier Ravenclaw students exiting their common room as they made their way to the Great Hall for a quick breakfast.

"You two," she called out. "Go fetch Professor Gryffindor and Madam Gudgeon to Professor Ravenclaw's chambers! Quickly!"

The two girls hurried off on their missions and Helga returned to Rowena's side.

"Wake up!" she said as she shook her friend sharply. "Rowena, please!"

Godric and Iris arrived swiftly, the two students who'd fetched them lurked in the doorway, curious as to what was happening.

Iris carefully pushed Helga aside and leaned over Rowena.

"She won't wake up," Helga repeated over and over. "Why won't she wake up?"

"I'm sorry," Iris said when she finally looked up. "It's too late. She…"

"She can't be!" Helga cried as she pushed Iris out of the way. "Rowena wake up, do you hear me?"

Godric pulled her away quietly. "She's gone, Helga," he whispered. "She's gone."

Helga sobbed openly once it had sunk in that there was nothing she could do to rouse her friend. "She just didn't want to live any more, her heart was broken."

"Get the students out of here," Iris advised quietly.

Godric nodded and shooed the students out of the doorway. "All lessons are cancelled today," he announced. "Go to the staff room and the Great Hall and advise all staff to meet me in my office immediately."

The girls nodded and hurried to do his bidding.

* * *

Rowena's parents, so silent for so many years arrived the next morning to take her home at last.

Helena, on seeing her grandparents for the first time in her life, was furious at their appearance and proceeded to make their visit as difficult as possible.

Helga smiled at the ghostly young woman's antics despite the sadness of the occasion. Helena was able to say everything she herself would have liked to, but with the knowledge that there was nothing the Ravenclaws could say or do to harm her.

* * *

The funeral took place two days later. All the staff of Hogwarts and a large portion of the students wanted to attend.

"She really was the most popular teacher in the school, wasn't she?" Helga said as she and the rest of the staff supervised the students into the waiting carriages.

"They all loved her," Wilbur said. "Though I'm sure none of them cared for her as much as you did."

"She was my best friend," Helga whispered with a small sob. "Hogwarts just won't be the same without her."

"She's with Salazar now," Godric said, and Helga's tears began falling without restraint.

"I'm sure she is," she agreed.

Wilbur helped her into the carriage, which began its slow journey to the Ravenclaw estate where they would say goodbye to their friend and colleague for the final time.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

The darkness of the cemetery was only broken by the small glow of the tip of a wizard's wand as the owner of the same made his way quietly through the graves towards his destination.

An owl cry disturbed the quiet of the night and the wizard looked up to see the bird above him. Just out hunting he guessed as the bird dove for its prey in a nearby meadow.

The wizard continued through the graveyard until he finally reached the crypt he was looking for. It was secured in a muggle fashion though there were no spells on it. It didn't make any difference; nothing would keep him out.

"Alohomora," he said as he pointed his wand at the locked door. The heavy lock creaked in the quiet as it opened and he slipped inside the building.

It was the most recent addition to the tomb he was looking for and he found it at once. Her parents had seen fit to at last re-acknowledge their daughter and he found that he was grateful at least for that small mercy. He hadn't relished the idea of digging up the coffin from the ground, though if that was what it would have taken he'd have done it with his bare hands.

He found her easily; the scent of the still fresh flowers guided his path.

"Rowena," he whispered as he reached her side.

* * *

"Back in the land of the living are you?" Salazar asked when Rowena finally opened her eyes.

"Where am I?" she asked as she looked around the strangely familiar room.

"Heaven," Salazar replied with a smile. "Here drink this, it'll wake you up properly."

Rowena took the mug from him and sipped the contents cautiously. "How long was I out for?" she asked.

"About a week," Salazar replied. "That's one potent potion Nicholas gave you. Even mine only put me under for four days. I nearly woke up in the middle of my own funeral."

"He had to modify mine," Rowena said hesitantly. "There was an unexpected complication."

"So I noticed," Salazar replied as he looked pointedly at her slightly rounded abdomen.

"Do you think anyone suspects?" Rowena asked as she got up from the bed and looked about the room.

"They won't be able to find us, even if they do," Salazar assured her with a smile.

"You're sure this place is entirely hidden?"

"I've put every spell I know of on this place, no one is _ever_ going to find us."

"What about Nicholas?" she asked.

"Apart from Nicholas. I told him where to find us before he returned to school in the summer," Salazar confirmed. "But we're under the Fidelius Charm and since I'm Secret Keeper, Nicholas won't be able to reveal our presence even if someone suspects he knows. He won't be able to visit us until after he graduates school though, it'll be too risky. He's going to follow his brother's example and do some travelling after he leaves Hogwarts and if he should just happen to travel this way…"

"I won't be surprised," Rowena finished with a smile. "I'm sorry you never got to meet Helena. I never thought she'd stay with us forever but I wanted you to know her for a little while. She wouldn't have betrayed us."

The tears started to fall as she thought of her daughter's spirit trapped forever in Hogwarts, unable to move on.

"Don't sweetheart," Salazar whispered as he pulled her close. "Don't upset yourself."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "You've gone to so much trouble and here I am blubbering away like the world's about to end."

"Well how about a tour to cheer you up a little?" Salazar suggested as he pulled back slightly. Rowena nodded and let her guide him around the cottage that was the perfect replica of the one that the Come and Go room had created for them all those years ago.

"You're sure you wouldn't prefer a mansion or something bigger?" Rowena asked as they sat in the garden later that afternoon.

"I don't need a mansion," Salazar assured her. "I just need you. Or do _you_ want a manor? I never thought to ask you, did I? While I was waiting for you all I could think about was our cottage in the Come and Go room. I spent my days putting it together from memory. I never thought you might want something different."

"Shush," Rowena ordered as she placed her index finger over his lips. "I don't care where we live, as long as we're together. We've had too much time stolen from us already for me to want anything more."

"That reminds me," Salazar said suddenly. "We each have a present from Nicholas, he slipped them into my coffin along with the funds to help us to start over."

"What is it?" Rowena asked as she followed Salazar back inside the cottage.

"You'll see," Salazar said with a smile. He walked towards the oak bureau and sorted through the items that were already scattered across it. "Ah, here they are."

"More potions?" Rowena asked. "What do they do?"

"I'm not sure actually, but Nicholas's note said something about giving back what was taken," Salazar admitted. "Knowing Nicholas they could be pretty much anything. I'll test mine first."

He uncorked the vial and drank the contents swiftly.

"What does it taste like?" Rowena asked. "What does it do?"

"It doesn't seem to have a taste to it," Salazar said. "I don't think it seems to be doing anything…what is it?"

Rowena's jaw had dropped and she looked at Salazar with wide eyes. "Your hair," she whispered. "Look at your hair."

Salazar looked for the nearest mirror and hurried towards it, Rowena close at his heels.

"Oh my goodness," Salazar said as he looked at his changing reflection.

"All that grey's gone," Rowena whispered in awe.

"There wasn't that much!" Salazar replied haughtily. "All those beauty potions he was brewing for his mother…it looks like he picked up a few tips on anti-ageing."

"I'll say he did," Rowena said as she watched Salazar finish transforming back into the younger man she known so many years before. "I think it's stopped," she said.

"A good job as well," Salazar replied. "Much further and I'll be younger than the young man who brewed it. Early twenties, I think."

"I didn't even think it was possible to do that?" Rowena asked. "How's he managed it?"

"I have no idea," Salazar said as he finally turned away from the mirror. "The note with the potion said to take one vial only, and that more could be fatal."

"Should I take mine?" Rowena asked as she looked hesitantly towards the unopened vial on the bureau.

"Maybe after the baby's born," Salazar suggested. "I don't know how it would affect the unborn baby if you took it now."

"Good idea," Rowena said. "I'll put it away safe for later."

"So you like the cottage?" Salazar asked once the potion was safely stored away.

"It's perfect," Rowena replied. "Absolutely perfect."

* * *

"Sal! The pasties are burning," Rowena tried to duck under his arm to reach her smoking oven. "Stop distracting me, or my cooking will never improve!"

"But I _like_ distracting you," Salazar replied with a wicked grin as he picked her up and deposited her on the edge of the table.

"Cough, cough," said a voice from the doorway, causing the two of them to quickly jump apart.

"Nicholas!" Salazar exclaimed. "I can't believe you're finally here!"

"Er…you might want to…er…" Nicholas waved his hands towards them as he pointedly looked out the window.

"You can turn round now," Rowena said. "We're decent."

Nicholas turned back to them with a grin. "I'd have waited outside but it's a dreadful night."

"Oh don't be silly," Rowena scolded as she hopped down from the table. "It's been snowing all day and you look soaked through. I can't believe how much you've grown."

"Well I was only thirteen when you last saw me," Nicholas pointed out with a grin. He looked like he was about to say more but instead let loose a powerful sneeze.

"Go on through to the living room," she ordered as she took his wet cloak from him and hung it up to dry.

"Thank you, Stepmother," he said with a smile.

"It's just Rowena," Rowena said. "You know I'm not really your stepmother."

"You're as good as," Salazar told her.

"You mean to tell me you've not made an honest woman of her yet?" Nicholas asked. "Father really!"

"Don't be cheeky," Salazar said as they sat down in front of the roaring fire. "It's a little difficult seeing as I'm already married to your mother."

"No you're not," Nicholas said. "Or are you telling me you haven't heard?"

"Heard what?" Rowena asked.

"We don't get any news here from the wizarding world," Salazar explained. "The nearest village is twelve miles away and is entirely populated with muggles."

"None at all?" Nicholas asked incredulously.

Rowena and Salazar shook their heads.

"Well, I'm not sure how to tell you this but Mother died last summer."

"How?" Rowena asked after several minutes of silence. Salazar continued to look mutely at his son.

"It was the witch hunters," Nicholas explained. "We don't know how they knew she was one but they abducted her and…well we think she was knocked unconscious before they…she didn't really have a chance."

Rowena shivered slightly. One of the things that they did occasionally hear about in their infrequent visits to the village was the witch hunters. She hoped they never found her family.

"I thought for sure you'd have heard about it," Nicholas continued. "Had I known I'd have visited much sooner."

"Don't worry about it," Salazar said. "You had no way of knowing we'd cut ourselves off quite so much."

"But you could have been married months ago," Nicholas pointed out. "You've been waiting for so long."

"If we marry, we run the risk of being found," said Rowena sadly. "We decided it wasn't worth the risk not long after we came here."

"You could get married in a muggle church," Nicholas suggested. "Wizards don't take notice of muggle records. No one would know it was you. Especially considering that neither of you looks a day over twenty five."

"Thanks to you," Salazar said. "That is one remarkable potion you concocted. Have you perfected it yet?"

"Not really looked at it actually," Nicholas admitted. "You know I never did like potions much."

"But you're so talented at them," Rowena said. "Why waste that talent?"

Nicholas shrugged. "I kept the notes I made but…I don't know…I guess I don't have much of a liking for potions, especially since finding out about Mother and the love potions she used."

"Potions aren't evil," Salazar pointed out. "It depends on how they are used, the same as any magic."

"You're telling me there's a good way to use a love potion?" Nicholas asked with a snort of contempt.

"Well there was this one time…" Rowena began with a mischievous grin.

"Urgh! Stop right there," warned Nicholas as he raised his hands towards his ears. "I have a feeling this will be going into the realms of too much information."

"Well even if you don't want to carry on your research, at least keep your notes," Salazar advised. "Maybe one of your children or grandchildren will inherit your talent and follow it up."

"Maybe," Nicholas said with a shrug as he looked towards the fire with what Rowena accurately guessed to be mild embarrassment.

"Is there something else you want to tell us?" she asked with a teasing grin.

"Well there's a lot of news you apparently haven't received," Nicholas replied evasively.

"You _know_ what I mean," Rowena replied.

"Well I'm getting married next summer," Nicholas finally muttered. "If Father gives his approval."

"What do you need _my_ approval for?" Salazar asked. "But why are you waiting until the summer?"

"Wilbur wants me to concentrate on the League during the Quidditch season," Nicholas admitted.

"You're playing Quidditch?" Rowena asked in surprise.

"He signed me on as a Beater as soon as I'd left school. He said that he'd found a way to put my destructive tendencies to good use."

Rowena snickered slightly at this. "How is Wilbur?" she asked. "How's everyone at Hogwarts?"

"Well Professor Hufflepuff just had a baby girl last year. She called her Rowena after you. She and Wilbur have been married for three years now."

"About time," Salazar interrupted. "I never understood why they weren't married years ago."

"Because Helga hates to lose a wager," Rowena replied, earning looks of bewilderment from the two men. "We made a wager when we were about fourteen as to who would marry first. We bet two sickles each. I said it would be her, she said it would be me."

"You mean to tell me that the only reason they never married before now is because…?" Salazar shook his head in astonishment. "I can't believe Wilbur put up with waiting this long because of a wager!"

"He didn't know about it," Rowena pointed out with a grin. "That was one of the terms. Prospective husbands weren't to know about it. Wilbur wouldn't have minded anyway. He'd have waited forever as long as he'd found someone who'd let him bang on about Quidditch morning, noon and night."

Salazar shook his head as Nicholas laughed.

"So who are you marrying?" Rowena asked. "Is she nice? Is she clever?"

"Actually you know her," Nicholas replied. "I'm marrying Calliope."

"Calliope Addison?" Rowena asked in surprise.

"That's the one," Nicholas confirmed with a grin. "She was always kind to me when I was hiding out in the stables after losing goodness knows how many points for Hufflepuff. I trailed after her for years, I even asked her to the Yule Ball last year but she kept telling me I was too young for her. I eventually wore her down last summer after I'd finished school."

"You'll have to bring her to visit," Salazar said. "I know Rowena would love to see her again, wouldn't you?"

Rowena nodded eagerly.

"Are you sure?" Nicholas asked. "You said when we were discussing this place that the fewer people who know about it the better."

"I think we can make an exception for your bride," Salazar assured him. "The spells will remain in place and she won't be able to tell anyone about us or this place though."

Nicholas nodded in understanding.

Suddenly the sound of a hissing came from the basket that Nicholas had brought in with him.

"You've not brought a snake here have you?" Rowena asked, awkwardly pulling her feet up onto the couch.

"No," Nicholas promised. "Unlike my brother, I'm not a parseltongue. This is an old friend who wants to see you."

Rowena put her feet back on the floor and peered into the open basket. "Patches?" she exclaimed as her cat leapt from the basket and onto her lap. "How?"

"She took to trailing around after me after you'd gone and I kind of adopted her. Professor Hufflepuff said I could take her with me when I left school. I think perhaps this cat of yours knew that hanging around me would eventually lead her back to you."

"So what's your brother doing these days?" Salazar asked.

"I'm not sure," Nicholas admitted with a guilty shrug. "We haven't exactly kept in touch. Last I heard he was going into some business or another with cousin Tabitha."

"What about Godric?" Rowena asked.

"Oh he's in seventh heaven," Nicholas laughed. "The Giant Squid turned out to be female and gave birth last year so he spends most of his time down at the lakeside. He's named it Ickle Snookums the Second, whatever that's supposed to mean."

"Ickle Snookums is the name of the basilisk that resides under the school," Salazar explained.

"There's a _basilisk_ under the school?" asked Nicholas in horror.

"Oh don't worry about it," Salazar assured him. "It can't get out unless someone who speaks parseltongue says the password at the entrance."

"But a _basilisk_ in a _school_?"

"Well I've no intention of going back and taking it on," Salazar replied calmly. "The things probably completely wild be now."

"What if someone lets it out?"

"It would take a remarkably clever and yet also remarkably stupid person to do such a thing," Salazar assured him.

"Well enough about my news for the moment," Nicholas said in an obvious attempt to change the subject. "What about you two? Did I get a new little brother or a sister and when is this next one due?"

Rowena patted her stomach and smiled. "This one is due any day now," she said. "And you have four little sisters asleep upstairs."

"Four?" Nicholas looked aghast as he looked from Rowena to his father and back again.

"I had a set of twins," Rowena explained. "Helga's the eldest, then there were the twins Jocelyn and Lilith, then Katelyn, named after your grandmother of course."

"This time we need a boy because we're running out of females to name the girls after," Salazar joked.

"I told you this one's a girl too," Rowena said. "I can tell."

"Four sisters," Nicholas repeated, still looking rather stunned. "You have been busy, haven't you?"

"At it like rabbits, as Godric used to say," Salazar said with a grin.

"Sal always said he wanted half a dozen children so now you're here this should give him a complete set," Rowena said.

"I believe I said a round dozen," Salazar pointed out with a smirk.

"I believe _I_ said if you wanted that many you could find a way for you to carry them and give birth," Rowena replied with a smirk of her own.

"Are you sure you have room for me to stay here for a few days?" Nicholas asked.

"Of course," Salazar assured him. "You'd be surprised at how many people you can fit into a little cottage when you have a little magic to assist you."

"Besides," Rowena added, "without you we wouldn't even have all this."

"Will the girls go to Hogwarts?" Nicholas asked.

"No," Salazar said with a shake of his head. "It'd raise too many questions. We're going to teach them everything they need to know right here. They'll have home tutoring from the best teacher Hogwarts ever had." He looked down at Rowena with a smile.

"Two of the best," she amended as she smiled back up at him.

"And you've never once considered re-entering the wizarding world?" Nicholas asked curiously.

"Never," Rowena replied.

"We have everything we need right here," Salazar added. "We have each other."

Nicholas smiled as he looked at his father and the woman who he was sure would soon be his stepmother. He watched them for a moment or two until he realised he was starting to feel like an intruder on a private moment. He wondered if they would even notice if he retired upstairs. He stood up quietly and made his way towards the door, the rest of the news could wait until tomorrow. He glanced back briefly as he closed the door shut and smiled again; they hadn't noticed his absence at all.

As he made his way up the stairs he knew they were right.

They'd never needed anyone else.

_**The End**_

_Author Notes: Thank you for reading and especially thanks to SingingBird812 for taking the time to leave reviews. _

_I am considering a prequel founders story for Rowena and Salazar (as described in my profile page) if people are interested in reading it. So if you would like to see another founders story from me be sure to let me know and I will bump it up my priorities list. _


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